Those Who Wait
by The King's Soldier
Summary: A series of interconnected, character-centric one shots set directly after season 2. Each chapter looks at one of thirteen different characters as they deal with life post Mount Weather, and specifically how Clarke's absence affects each of them. Follows a linear timeline. Companion to "The Long Road Home".
1. Monty

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This series is something that came out of several one-shot ideas I had combined with listening to certain songs that seemed to relate. It will be a set of six chapters with each focusing on a different character during a specific point in Clarke's absence as they deal with both that and whatever personal issues they may have after Mount Weather. This first chapter connects briefly to my one-shot "Exit the Hero", which is Clarke's point of view and thoughts on her departure at the end of season two, so I would recommend reading that just as a reference. But this should still make sense even if you haven't read that story. Future chapters will also mention or elaborate on events from my story "The Long Road Home", which is my take on what happens to Clarke during her time away from Camp Jaha, so I would also recommend reading that before the second chapter of this story. Everything else should be fairly self-explanatory. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Monty**

No matter how Monty tries, he can't get warm. It doesn't matter that they've been walking for hours or that the sun is now shining brightly down upon them or that he has on a thick sweater. Actually, the sweater might be half the problem. He took it from Mount Weather before they left. Part of him wonders if maybe he should take it off, if that would somehow help. But then another shiver rocks his body, and he tugs the fabric tighter around himself.

He knows what happened in Mount Weather was necessary. He knows the line of people moving around him now wouldn't be alive if he hadn't set up the system for Clarke to pull the lever. But even that knowledge doesn't help. It's not the death toll that haunts him though. As twisted as it sounds, he thinks he just might be able to live with knowing the people of the mountain are gone because of him. From the minute he watched them gun down Mrs. Ryan, he knew it was a decision he could live with. But what haunts him is the betrayed look in Jasper's eyes as he knelt on the floor holding Maya's broken body. That look turned Monty's blood into ice, and so far he has been completely powerless to make any warmth return.

He's pulled out of his thoughts by Clarke finally coming up beside him. She's been steadily making her way through the column, stopping at intervals to talk to certain people. It hadn't taken Monty long to notice she was speaking to each surviving member of the original hundred that came down to Earth. At first, he had just assumed she was checking on her people. It seems like something Clarke would do. Things had seemed to get a little emotional when she got to Octavia, but he had just chalked that up to them mending fences. Then Clarke had hugged Raven and Monty had started to wonder. When she had started talking to Kane, he had known for sure. Clarke isn't just checking in. She's saying good-bye.

She looks tired as she falls into step beside Monty. More tired than he's ever seen her. That weariness is enough to distract Monty temporarily from his own burden. She looks like she's fishing for words. Like she's expecting him to argue and she's trying to figure out how to put a stop to it before it starts because she's far too tired to deal with it. Monty sighs and decides to save her the trouble. She came back for them, after all. Even when they all turned on her and called her the enemy, she still came back for them. This is the very least he can do.

"You leaving?" he asks in a tone of quiet acceptance. Clarke's eyes widen briefly as she glances over at him, but then she nods.

"How'd you know?" she asks. He can hear the exhaustion in her voice. But she also sounds deeply relieved that he isn't pushing.

"You look like you need a vacation," Monty says as lightly as he can manage. The corner of Clarke's mouth twitches upward in a ghost of a smile.

"I think we all do," she says.

Monty nods in agreement as he looks down the road at the gates of Camp Jaha. The front of their column has almost reached it. People are already beginning to gather inside the yard as the gates begin to slide open. Bellamy is near the front of the line, the strong leader taking his people home.

"Did you tell him?" Monty asks.

"Not yet," Clarke says, that weary note entering her voice again. "I will."

Monty doesn't press the issue. Bellamy will argue with her. They both know he will. It's going to take every ounce of strength Clarke has left to survive that conversation. But she and Bellamy have been through too much together for her to leave without an explanation.

"He'll understand," Monty assures her. "Maybe not at first, but he will."

"I hope so," Clarke says quietly.

They're almost at the gate now. Clarke slows down to a stop, and Monty does the same. The rest of the line continues moving past them.

"I'm not going in," Clarke says quietly in answer to Monty's questioning look. She's looking at the gate where Bellamy stands watching their people enter. She seems to almost be bracing herself. Any moment now Bellamy will turn and see her. Clarke pulls her eyes away and looks back at Monty. "I'm going to leave now before anyone else notices."

"I could go with you," Monty blurts out. He doesn't really know where the words come from, only that he has to get them out before it's too late. "I might not be much help. I'm not very good at this whole outdoor survival thing. But at least you wouldn't be alone."

Clarke suddenly looks as if she might cry, although there's a weak smile on her face now.

"I know you'd come with me in a heartbeat," she says. She reaches out and lays a hand on his shoulder. "And I love you for that. But they'll need you here. The kids who were in Mount Weather look at you as a leader now. And besides, you need some time to heal. They can help you do that."

"But not you," Monty says. It's a statement rather than a question. He watched Clarke throw that lever. He saw the agony in her eyes as she wrestled with the decision. He knows better than anyone, except maybe Bellamy, exactly what that decision cost her. He knows why she has to leave. And he accepts it. He doesn't like it, but he accepts it.

"Thank you," Clarke says suddenly. Her voice cracks a little over the two words.

"For what?" Monty asks in confusion.

"For not asking why," Clarke says hoarsely. "For not trying to make me stay."

"That's what friends are for," Monty says with a shrug. Now there's definitely moisture in Clarke's eyes. But if she cracks now, she might not be able to put herself back together. So for her sake, he hurries on. "Just promise me you'll be careful out there."

Clarke nods, her expression making it clear that she hears what he's not saying. _Promise me you'll come back in one piece._

"Take care of yourself," Clarke says. She leans forward and hugs him tightly. Monty suddenly has the strangest feeling she's hugging him so he won't see her face. She has to clear her throat before continuing. "And take care of the others. Especially Jasper. He needs you, even if he doesn't know it."

"I will," Monty promises as he hugs back. Clarke's arms tighten briefly as if trying to tell him all of the things she doesn't know how to say. Then she lets go and Monty lets her.

Bellamy is walking towards them then, so there isn't time for anything else. Monty gives Clarke one last smile before he pulls his sweater around his cold frame and starts walking toward the gate. He makes it all the way across the yard and to the entrance of the crashed space station without turning back. When he finally does risk a glance over his shoulder, Clarke is already walking down the road away from the camp. Monty sends a quick prayer on her behalf to whatever deity is listening before forcing himself to turn away.

Later that night as he sits quietly beside a campfire with Harper, Miller, and Monroe, Monty wonders if maybe he should have given Clarke his sweater. Winter is coming, and she'll need a way to stay warm. He tells himself that this is Clarke and she'll figure something out just like always, but part of him still wishes he had thought to give her the sweater, at least for his own peace of mind if nothing else. Besides, he has a feeling he won't be needing the sweater much longer. He's just realized that he can feel his left hand warming as it sits quietly entwined with Harper's. Maybe in time the rest of him will be warm again too.

* * *

So how was it? Please leave a quick review letting me know what you thought. It will make my day and will also encourage me to update faster. The second chapter will be up in two or three days, and it will look at Bellamy the evening right after Clarke leaves. Until then, feel free to check out some of my other stories. I've written eight other stories for this show, four of which are set after the season two finale. I would specifically recommend reading "The Long Road Home" because events from that story will be referenced in this story from the next chapter onward. And as always, thanks for reading!


	2. Bellamy

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This chapter was the first piece I came up with in this series. It looks at Bellamy's feelings toward Clarke's departure and why he really chose to stay behind. Originally it was going to be a one shot, but then I got ideas for the other chapters in this set and decided to turn it into a compilation. This is still one of my favorite chapters though. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Bellamy**

Bellamy's sitting at the bar working through his third cup of moonshine when Octavia finds him. She drops down onto one of the makeshift bar stools beside him, her body angled so she's facing him. He notices with mild interest that she's changed out of her Grounder garb into something that makes her look more like one of the Sky People. Well, good for her. This is where she belongs anyway.

"Everyone's pretty much settled in," she says without preamble. "Monty's holding you a tent so you don't have to share."

She, Lincoln, and Monty spent most of the day organizing enough tents and bedding for the rest of the former delinquents to set up in the main yard of Camp Jaha. It's far too cramped, and tomorrow they'll have to work out a more permanent arrangement. But for now it'll work.

"Let someone else have it," Bellamy says. He downs the rest of the cup and motions for a refill. "I'd rather sleep outside anyway."

Bellamy spent his own day talking with Kane and Miller's dad about guard rotations and how to assimilate the kids back into the larger population. The talking lasted until nearly dark, at which point he decided it was finally time to get that drink. The first was for himself, the second was for Clarke, and the third was for Fox. They lost four more of their people to the Mountain Men (he still thinks of the hundred, not Camp Jaha, as his people), and Bellamy fully intends to have a drink for every one of them. Hell, maybe he'll even have one for Maya too.

Octavia gives him a concerned look as he lifts the fourth cup to his mouth.

"How much have you had?" she asks. There's a fire in her voice that says she's not afraid to try and stop him if she has to. She's changed since coming to the ground. And Bellamy's proud of who she's become. But right now he really just wants her to go away.

"Not enough," he says. The moonshine burns his throat on the way down, but he doesn't have it in him to care.

"Well, I say it's enough," Octavia says firmly. "You need to get some rest."

"Not yet," he says before taking another drink. Part of him wonders if he does it just to prove she can't stop him. "I told Kane I'd help with the next watch."

"Bell-" Octavia begins. Bellamy quickly cuts her off.

"She told me to take care of them," he says, his voice barely above a strained whisper. Octavia doesn't have to ask who he means. She sighs and swings her legs around so she's facing the bar fully. Bellamy's gaze is locked on the bar's metal surface beneath his hands, but he knows her enough to know her expression is far softer now than it was.

"You could've made her stay," she says quietly without looking at him. "You're probably the only one who could."

It's a statement rather than an accusation, and for that, at least, Bellamy is grateful. He got enough accusations from Clarke's mother before she finally broke down in Kane's arms.

"What we did in Mount Weather," Bellamy explains, struggling to keep his voice even, "it broke her. Staying here, being reminded of it every day..." He shakes his head. "I couldn't do that to her. She needs a chance to heal. She deserves that much."

"So do you," Octavia tells him. She sounds like she believes it. The image of a small boy lying dead beside a ball flashes through Bellamy's mind, and he takes another drink. Octavia is silent a moment before adding, as if it's just occurred to her, "You could've gone with her."

The thought had indeed crossed Bellamy's mind. But in the end he couldn't do it.

"I'm needed here," he says.

"Bullshit," Octavia says fiercely. Bellamy looks up in mild surprise. She's never talked like that before. She shakes her head as she gives him a hard stare. "Don't go all high and mighty on me. We could've done without you for a while. Lincoln and I could've taken care of things. You know that. It might've been rough, but we could've done it. So why'd you really stay?"

Bellamy's gaze falls back to the cup in his hand.

"Because I had to," he says, his voice strained. "Clarke..." He swallows hard to clear the lump in his throat. "Clarke never would've left unless she knew our people were in good hands. She's too damn selfless. And I'm the only one she trusts to do it long-term. I had to stay so she could go." He pauses before adding quietly, "I bear it, so she doesn't have to."

Octavia is quiet for a few seconds as she processes that.

"You're a good person, Bell," she says finally. Bellamy looks over to see her smiling sadly at him. "Mom would be proud of you."

Bellamy's eyes start to burn, and he has to blink rapidly to keep his vision clear.

"You too," he says. Octavia's smile widens. Then she grows more serious.

"She'll be back," she says. "You'll see."

The confidence Octavia seems to have in Clarke warms Bellamy's heart. He's not quite so certain himself. Clarke's hurting pretty badly, and part of him wonders if she won't just wander out into the woods and fade away. But Octavia's faith gives him a spark of hope.

"Besides," Octavia says, slapping her right palm down onto the bar with an air of finality. "You're not the only one who made Clarke a promise. I told her I'd take care of you while she's gone, and I'm not gonna have you die of exhaustion with her barely out the door. You go get some sleep, okay? Lincoln and I can split your watch."

Bellamy tries to argue, but he's interrupted by a yawn. Octavia gives him a pointed look.

"Yes ma'am," he says meekly once he can close his mouth again. Octavia smiles fondly at him. She gets up from her stool and puts her arms around his shoulders in a side hug. Bellamy puts his right arm around her as best he can.

"I'm glad you stayed," Octavia tells him quietly. Then she kisses the side of his head and pulls away. "Good night, big brother."

"Night, O," Bellamy says.

He downs the rest of his cup as Octavia heads off to find Lincoln. Then he looks over his shoulder at the small hodgepodge camp sprawled out across the yard. Those kids are going to need a lot of help in the coming days as they try to put themselves back together. To be perfectly honest, Bellamy's not sure how much strength he has left to give them. The thought of running off into the woods with Clarke and living out the rest of their days in their own personal Garden of Eden had been a sorely tempting one. But she needs him to do this. And for Clarke, Bellamy can carry on until judgment day if he has to.

Even so, it's not until four days later when Bellamy leads a scavenging party back to Mount Weather for supplies that he knows for certain he made the right decision. They reach the mountain to find that all of the bodies are gone. The security cameras are still running, but even if Bellamy did have the stomach to enter the control room and check the feed, he doesn't need to in order to know that this was Clarke's doing. She moved them all. Every last one. Cremated them, if the windswept pile of ashes outside the giant door is any indication. Maybe putting their souls to rest gave some measure of peace to her own bruised soul. At the very least, it should have given her some level of closure, however meager.

But even if it didn't help one bit, the empty mountain still proves to Bellamy that she's trying. She's trying to get past this, to let herself heal. And in time, maybe it'll start to work. Maybe one day she'll be able to put herself back together. Maybe one day he'll wake up to find her walking back through the main gate, finally whole again. He highly doubts it will actually happen like that, and even if it does, it probably won't be for a good long while yet. But even so, he starts making a habit out of taking the daybreak watch every day. Just in case.

* * *

If you liked this story, please take a second to leave a quick review and let me know what you thought about it. The end of this chapter touched briefly on events from "The Long Road Home", but beginning in the next chapter events from that story will play a pretty big part in each chapter of this story. So if you haven't read that story yet, I highly recommend reading it before the third chapter of this goes up in the next couple of days. It will look at Jasper's attitude toward Clarke two months into her absence and a specific event that could set him on the road to eventually forgiving her. So keep an eye out for that. Thanks for reading!


	3. Jasper

Disclaimer: I own no part of this magnificent show.

Author's Note: This chapter looks at Jasper starting to realize that maybe he's been unfair in his attitude toward Clarke. It ties in pretty heavily with events from the first chapter of "The Long Road Home" and mentions something that happens in the second chapter. You can read this chapter without having read that story, but it will probably mean more if you've already read the other one. This also serves to help set up the Mount Weather scene from the fourth chapter of "The Long Road Home", which apparently made several people cry. I don't think this chapter will cause any waterworks, but I suppose it's always a possibility. Hopefully it all makes sense. It was hard to get the level of emotion right without making it super long. But I think I'm finally happy with it. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Jasper**

Jasper's cheek is stinging as he trudges through the forest. He can't tell if it's from the frigid winter wind or if the tingling sensation is a lingering reminder of Octavia's fist connecting with his face. He knows he's been moody and withdrawn the last few months, and he knows it's been steadily wearing on Octavia's nerves. But he still hadn't expected her to hit him.

It's been two months since Maya died. Jasper figures he's entitled to still be upset about it. And yes, maybe the cold shoulder he's been giving Monty and the dirty looks he occasionally directs at Bellamy are a little immature. But that still doesn't give Octavia the right to hit him. The girl he loves is dead. He'd like to see Octavia behave nicely if Lincoln died in her arms.

He doesn't have to think about where his feet are taking him. He's made this eight hour trek more times than he can count in the last two months. Being around camp is just too much sometimes. Everyone in the smaller camp is always talking about Clarke. What would she do and when will she be back. It makes Jasper sick. Clarke's a murderer. She killed over three hundred people. How can they all talk about her like she's some kind of saint?

He'd said as much today when Monroe brought her up at breakfast. He'd expected an argument. He hadn't expected Octavia to lean across the table and punch him. And then she'd come around the table, grabbed his collar in her fists, hauled him to his feet, and yelled at him.

"I am done with your self-righteous crap!" she'd yelled right in his face. "Get over yourself! So Maya died. So what? We've all lost people, Jasper! All of us! But what Clarke did saved us! It saved you! And instead of being grateful, you treated her like garbage! And now you're acting like a selfish ass! You're half the reason she left!"

"That's enough, O," Bellamy had said firmly from a nearby table. Octavia had released Jasper's collar, but her angry eyes had remained locked on his face.

"Clarke killed Finn so we could get you out of Mount Weather," she had continued in a dangerous tone. "She killed the boy she loved to save you. Could you have made that choice?"

The mess hall was so quiet a pin drop could have been heard. And Jasper's shocked silence had clearly been answer enough for Octavia.

"I didn't think so," she had said darkly. Then she had turned and stormed out.

Jasper had been completely shell-shocked. So he'd left too. Walked right out of camp and down the road. If they don't want him there, fine. He doesn't want to be there either.

The flowers from his last visit are still on Maya's grave when he finally gets there. They were the only ones he could find that were still alive. But there's also something else. Jasper frowns as he realizes it's a folded piece of paper. There's a matching piece on Fox's grave. It doesn't make any sense. Until now, he's been the only one to leave anything at the graves.

He kneels down in front of Maya's grave and picks up the paper. It unfolds to reveal a drawing of Maya. Her gaze is just slightly off the page and her mouth is caught in the process of turning into a smile. Jasper's heart skips a beat at the sight of her. It makes his heart ache. He's so caught up in the drawing that it takes him a moment to recognize the style. It's Clarke's.

Two things hit him then. The first is that the drawing means Clarke was here. Actually here. The second is that this drawing is Clarke's way of paying homage. But that doesn't make any sense. She didn't care about Maya. She killed Maya. There must be another explanation. He wonders if Clarke went into the mountain. Maybe he could check the cameras and see what she was really up to. He carefully folds up the drawing and places it in his pocket before getting to his feet and heading inside. The hallways are cold thanks to the giant metal door standing wide open, but Jasper hardly notices as he makes his way down to the command center.

It doesn't take long before he's standing outside the room where it all went wrong. Jasper sets his teeth and goes in. There are several computer stations in the room, and he sits down at the one closest to the door. He's not as good at this as Monty, but after a few tries he manages to pull up the archived security footage. The entries are cataloged by some odd numerical system, so he has to guess which file he wants. His first guess ends up being far too early. The mess hall on the screen is still filled with bodies. He's about to try again when one section of the screen cycles over to a frame with a person moving through it. Clarke.

Curious, Jasper clicks on the camera frame she has just entered. It's a classroom. She's still wearing the clothes she left Camp Jaha in, so this must be right after the massacre. Jasper watches in interest as Clarke walks slowly around the room. She seems to be looking at the drawings on the wall. And then, to Jasper's shock, Clarke sinks to her knees and starts to weep.

For a moment Jasper can only stare. It doesn't make any sense. He's just assumed she threw that lever without caring what it did to the residents of the mountain. But here she is crying harder than he's ever seen anyone cry. That couldn't possibly be guilt, could it?

Suddenly the moment feels far too private for Jasper to be observing. His fingers scramble across the keyboard, trying to turn it off. Instead he just ends up skipping ahead on the feed. Clarke is back in the same room, although she's in different clothes. She puts a few art supplies in a bag, and then she turns her attention to the wall. She carefully takes down a drawing one of the children did like some kind of memento and slips it reverently into the front of a drawing pad where it won't get crumpled. Then she puts the pad in her bag and leaves.

This time Jasper manages to turn off the feed. He knows what happened next. Clarke had run into him coming to bury Maya. Only she had already done it, just as she presumably burned all the others. That's never stood out to Jasper until now. Why would she bother to do that unless she felt guilty for what had happened? And why would she have taken extra time to actually physically bury Maya unless she felt she owed Maya more than the others?

Images of Monty's hunched shoulders and Bellamy's weary eyes flash through Jasper's mind. He leans back into the chair as it finally starts to sink in. This whole time he's been blaming them for what happened here. But they blame themselves too. Clarke blamed herself so much she had to leave just to get away from it all. Octavia's right. Clarke saved them at the cost of her own soul, and all Jasper did was drive her away. She'd tried to apologize to him that morning in front of the mountain, telling him she'd take Maya's place if she could. And he'd thrown it right back in her face by harshly reminding her that Maya was dead along with everyone else from Mount Weather. He'd been so caught up in his own pain that it's only now as he thinks back on that morning that he finally sees just how much pain was in Clarke's own eyes. And instead of trying to help her, his friend, he'd turned his back and let her walk off into the woods alone.

Just like that, Jasper suddenly feels like dirt. Clarke never would've treated him the way he did her. When the Grounders took him, she came to find him. She barely even knew him, and still she came. She saved his life. Come to think of it, she saved his life several times. She's proven just how much she cares for him. For all of them. She even killed Finn to buy an army to save her friends. Octavia was right about that too. Clarke did what Jasper couldn't do. She gave up the person she loved to save everyone else. Even after Jasper called her a threat, even after they all shut her out, she had still come back for them. And Jasper repaid that loyalty with hate.

That's when it truly hits him. Even for all the blood on her hands, Clarke Griffin is still a far better person than he is. She's willing to sacrifice anything to save her people. But she doesn't just make those choices in a vacuum. She feels them. Every single hard call stays with her. The drawing on Maya's grave is proof of that. Maybe Jasper was wrong. Maybe Clarke really was just paying her respects to Maya. Checking in on her and Fox. On her people. Trying to somehow make up for her mistakes. That sounds like something Clarke would do. The real Clarke, not the one Jasper's been envisioning. Because the real Clarke cares. She cares so much it hurts her.

There are tears falling from Jasper's eyes now. He's not even sure why. Maybe they're for Maya and the others who deserved better. Maybe they're for his own loss. Or maybe they're for Clarke, clearly still carrying the guilt of what she's done. Maya's loss still stings horribly, but Jasper finally understands it now. He understands what Clarke did and why and how much it cost her. He still can't forgive her yet. But maybe there will come a day when he can. He wonders guiltily if he'll ever get the chance to tell Clarke that.

It's a long walk back to Camp Jaha, and darkness has fallen by the time Jasper reaches the tiny camp just outside it. Most of the teenagers are already gathered around campfires as they unwind from their day of doing whatever jobs the main camp has given them. Octavia is standing near the front of the camp, and she gives Jasper a deadly glare as he steps inside.

"You're back late," she says drily.

"I took a walk," Jasper says. It sounds lame even to him. His eyes scan the camp, but he can't see Monty. He turns back to Octavia, who's still watching him through narrowed eyes. "Have you seen Monty?"

"Why?" she demands, crossing her arms like some kind of bodyguard. Jasper hesitates.

"I owe him an apology," he says. "Several, actually."

"Yeah, you do," Octavia says flatly. Jasper swallows hard.

"You were right about Clarke," he says. It's hard to get the words out, but he does. Octavia's eyebrow lifts in mild surprise. So Jasper goes on. "I'm sorry I've been such an ass."

Octavia gives him a long look as if trying to decide something.

"How's your face?" she asks. It's not an apology, but Jasper wasn't really expecting one.

"Sore," he admits. He reaches up to rub his cheek, which feels bruised. "You hit hard."

"You deserved it," Octavia informs him without a hint of remorse.

"Yeah, I guess I did," Jasper says. The corner of Octavia's mouth tugs upward a little in a hint of a smile. Still, Jasper hesitates briefly before asking, "Are we good?"

Octavia must finally find whatever she's looking for because her stance relaxes visibly.

"Yeah," she says honestly. "We're good." She hooks her thumbs over her shoulder in the direction of the eastern edge of the camp. "Monty's that way."

"Thanks," Jasper says. His tone makes it clear he means it for more than the directions. Octavia just nods and starts walking toward a fire where Lincoln and Bellamy sit deep in discussion.

As Jasper starts off in the direction she pointed, he reaches into his pocket and touches the folded picture. This is what Maya would want. It's what she was trying to tell him when she died. That it was okay. Her loss still hurts, and maybe it always will. But she would want him to move on. And for the first time since she died, Jasper's starting to think that maybe someday he will.

* * *

If you're reading this, please take a few seconds to leave a short review. Even just a quick sentence would make my day. Thanks to the few that have reviewed this story so far. You're amazing. Please keep it up. The fourth chapter will look at Octavia going to find Clarke in the hopes of finally putting her and everyone else back together. As always, thanks for reading!


	4. Octavia

Disclaimer: I own nothing from this show. Except a tiny poster.

Author's Note: This chapter was the hardest to write. I knew how it tied in with Clarke's absence, but I had a hard time finding something for Octavia to struggle with like all the other characters have. So I started this chapter off as one thing, and then yesterday while I was editing it started turning into something else. I think I'm pretty happy with where it ended up though. Hopefully it all makes sense and seems believable for Octavia's character. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Octavia**

It's midwinter when the rumors start. There were legends, of course. Those seemed to begin the minute Mount Weather collapsed. Octavia hears them sometimes when she visits Tondc. Stories of the warrior girl who crushed the mountain. They grow fast and wild, and soon the majority of them strain the point of credulity. They make Octavia laugh inwardly, but she never says anything. The Grounders may have a truce with the Sky People, but Octavia knows that Clarke's legendary defeat of the mountain is the real reason for peace.

The rumors, however, don't start until well into winter. At first they're just whispers of a blonde girl living by the sea. Octavia mostly ignores them. There are all sorts of people claiming they've seen Clarke here and there. None of those are true, so why should these be any different? But when a handful start cropping up in the early spring about a blonde who draws, that's when Octavia decides they must be real. The Grounders see Clarke as a warrior. It would never occur to them that she's an artist too. Someone must have actually seen her. She brings it up to Indra, who finally confirms it. Clarke is by the sea. There's a whole continent here, and Clarke ended up just a few days away.

Octavia can't decide what to do with that news. On one hand, she misses Clarke terribly. Camp Jaha is doing amazing, but it just doesn't feel right without Clarke. She's the one that pulled the hundred together. She united them. Kept them alive. But now she's out there somewhere alone, and it's been slowly driving Octavia crazy. Clarke is the first real friend she ever had. Octavia's first and only best friend. And being here without her just feels wrong. Knowing that Clarke's hurting and Octavia can to nothing about it feels wrong.

But it's also more than that. Clarke's absence is wrecking havoc with the rest of the hundred too. It's like they're in a constant state of limbo. Like lost kids waiting for a parent to come home. And until she does, none of them can move on. And while Bellamy's doing a grand job leading both the guard and the smaller camp, Octavia can tell that it's wearing him down. He and Clarke are like two sides of the same coin. He needs her back or he's going to implode.

On the other hand, Clarke was pretty torn up when she left. She might not be ready to come back yet. And after everything she sacrificed for the rest of them, the very least she deserves is a chance at peace. Which is why Octavia finally decides to give it a little more time. But then Abby hears some of the rumors during one of her medical trips to Tondc, and she's just as convinced as Octavia that they have to be real. Only she wants something done about it.

"We need to find out if it's really her," Abby says as she paces around her end of the council table.

"Abby, she may not want to be found yet," Kane points out.

"I agree," Bellamy says. "She'll come home when she's ready."

Octavia watches the exchange in silence. As the official representative to the Grounder coalition, she's occasionally allowed to attend the meetings held in this room. This conversation isn't actually an official council meeting, but Abby still pulled Octavia in for her take on the rumors. Although personally, Octavia's just here in case the other two gang up on Bellamy. He's been working with them long enough now that he probably won't need the back-up, but still.

"I just want to know if she's okay," Abby pleads, stopping her pacing. "She's been gone for over four months now. What if something's happened to her?"

"Or what if we rush things and drive her away?" Kane counters.

"She's my daughter, Marcus," Abby says. "I need to know."

"I'll go," Octavia pipes up.

Three sets of eyes are suddenly focused on her. She's just as surprised as they are. She didn't really mean to say anything at this meeting, let alone volunteer. It just sort of happened. But as soon as the words are out of her mouth, she knows it's the right thing to do.

"She'd talk to me," Octavia adds. "I know it. And I know the Grounders better than any of you, so I've got the best chance of finding her."

"O," Bellamy begins quickly, clearly meaning to talk her out of it. Octavia shoots him a look that says to shut-up because she knows what she's doing.

"When can you leave?" Abby asks.

"Tomorrow," Octavia says.

"Thank you," Abby says sincerely.

The meeting seems to be over with that, so Bellamy quickly ushers Octavia out the door.

"You can't go looking for Clarke," he says, once they're safely down the corridor and out of Abby's earshot. "If she's not ready to come back yet-"

"I know," Octavia informs him. "But Abby's gonna send somebody one way or another. It might as well be me." Bellamy starts to argue, so Octavia hurries on. "She's my best friend, Bell. I gotta know if she's okay. I promise I won't push her into anything, okay? But I can't do this waiting thing anymore. If she's not coming back, I need to know. And so do you. Besides, maybe seeing a familiar face might actually do her some good."

Bellamy exhales heavily through his mouth and his shoulders seem to sag a little.

"Okay," he says finally. Octavia nods gratefully before changing tack.

"And who knows?" she says with an innocent shrug. "I might not even find her."

Bellamy's brow furrows briefly and then a ghost of a smile touches his face as he realizes what Octavia is implying.

"If you can't find her, I don't think anyone here could," he says knowingly.

"Probably not," Octavia agrees with a grin. Bellamy just shakes his head. Octavia starts to continue on down the hall, but Bellamy's voice stops her.

"Hey, O?" he says. Octavia turns back around. Bellamy hesitates as if searching for words. A hundred different emotions seems to flash through his eyes. Finally he settles for, "Tell her we miss her."

"I will," Octavia assures him.

She sets out the next morning. Indra says there's a seaside village directly east of Camp Jaha, so she decides to start there. It takes her two days to reach it. She's changed into Grounder clothing and her Trigedasleng has improved immensely over the last few months, so that makes it easy to talk to the villagers. But all of her attempts to ask about Clarke are met with deflection. Octavia gets the distinct feeling that the people know something and are intentionally not talking about it.

She's starting to get frustrated when she notices a girl of about eleven watching her curiously. The girl realizes she's been caught and comes down the street toward Octavia.

"Hello," she says in English. She must be training to be a warrior. "I am Talia."

"Octavia," Octavia says curiously, motioning at herself.

"You are looking for Clarke of the Sky People," Talia says knowingly.

"Yes," Octavia says. It's possible that this girl heard about her questions from someone else, but Octavia has a strong feeling she might actually know something. "I'm a friend of hers."

"I know," Talia says. Octavia's eyes narrow in confusion.

"You know?" she asks.

"I have seen her draw you," Talia says with a shrug.

Octavia can feel her breath catching in her throat.

"You know where Clarke is?" she asks. Talia nods. "Can you take me to her?"

"She does not want many visitors," Talia says, wavering a bit.

"She'll want to see me," Octavia assures her. At least, she hopes Clarke will.

Talia seems to weigh her for a moment, and then she nods.

"I will take you," she says. She starts walking down the street, and Octavia hurries after.

It takes more than an hour of walking through the woods before Octavia starts hearing a distant crashing that she can only assume is the sea. When they finally clear the trees, she stops walking for a moment to stare at the expanse of water spread out before her. It seems to just go on forever and ever. The smell of salt is strong in the air. It's absolutely incredible. But Talia keeps walking down the sand, so Octavia quickly follows her across the strange grainy ground.

A short time later Octavia stops again. There's a person further down the beach. They're sitting on the sand sketching something on a pad of paper. That alone would be enough, but the blonde hair is unmistakably Clarke's. Octavia's heart is suddenly in her throat. It's been four months without a word, and now Clarke's suddenly right in front of her.

Most of the hundred have spent the last four months trying to get past what happened in Mount Weather, whether it be personal trauma or simply the fact that so many people died. But not Octavia. The loss of life at Mount Weather doesn't bother her. Maybe because of what they did to Tondc. By the time the Mountain Men fell, her mind had turned them all into nothing more than moving targets. It's tragic, sure, but she's never lost any sleep over it. Maybe that makes her a bad person. Maybe not. Octavia doesn't really care one way or the other.

No, the hard part for her has been not being able to fix everyone else. Octavia's a doer. She always has been. Honestly, it's a wonder her mother managed to keep her locked up for as long as she did. Knowing that the mountain broke Clarke would've been bad enough. But watching her absence slowly wear Bellamy down day by day has only made it worse. And seeing all the rest of them patiently waiting for someone who might never come back has just been the icing on the cake. Octavia has been gradually winding tighter and tighter, like a spring about to explode. But now Clarke's here and Octavia can feel some of the pressure in her chest finally starting to ease. Because fixing things is what Clarke does. And if she's managed to fix herself, then there just might be a chance of her fixing everything else too.

"Clarke?" Octavia calls, unable to contain her excitement any longer.

The blonde head looks up and then Clarke's face is looking at her across the sand. Those familiar eyes fly open in surprise as Clarke's jaw drops.

"Octavia?" she cries.

It's too much to handle. Octavia takes off running down the beach. Clarke stands up so fast she spills her paper and pencil onto the sand. Then Octavia is colliding with her and they're both hugging each other as tightly as they can manage.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you," Octavia says happily.

She gives Clarke an extra squeeze before pulling back to look at her brightly smiling face. The pain that had become a permanent fixture in Clarke's eyes by the time she left is all but gone. She looks whole again. Bruised and battered, but whole. Like a boat coming out the other side of a storm. Suddenly the rest of the world feels a million miles away. Clarke's here. She's here, and she's okay. After four months of waiting, Octavia finally has her best friend back.

"I've missed you," she says with an uncontrollable grin.

"I missed you too," Clarke says sincerely.

And just like that, Octavia somehow knows that everything's finally going to be okay.

* * *

You guys know the drill. Feed the bard, please and thank you. Any review, no matter how short, seriously makes my day. And on that note, thank you to everyone who reviewed Jasper's chapter. The amount of feedback blew me away. Please keep that up and I'll do my best to hold the rest of this story to the same high standard you all expect. If you still haven't read "The Long Road Home", the third chapter of that story features the full version of Clarke and Octavia's reunion. As for this story, the next chapter is one of my favorites and will be about Raven trying to overcome her panic-inducing fear of drills while also working with the others on a plan to bring Clarke home. Thanks for reading!


	5. Raven

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This chapter is another one of my favorites. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do for Raven's chapter, and then it just sort of came to me. I really like the idea of her having to work through a bit of PTSD, especially since she helps Clarke with a bit of that in the fourth chapter of "The Long Road Home." I thought it made a nice parallel. Plus Raven's just a ton of fun for me to write. Hopefully this all seems believable. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Raven**

It's been almost five months since Mount Weather, and Raven still can't be around drills. It's ridiculous, really. A mechanic who can't use a drill. The nightmares stopped a while after they got back, and her leg has healed to the point it was at before all that. But her stupid fear of drills continues to persist. Every time she hears one it takes her right back to that table and she can't move or breathe until someone turns the damned thing off. Wick and Abby both keep telling her it'll go away eventually. But that doesn't stop Raven from hating herself for it.

When she has to pass up two jobs in the same afternoon because they involve drilling, Raven calls it quits for the day and heads over to the smaller camp for some of Monty and Jasper's mind-numbing moonshine. She's just gotten herself a nice big cup of it when she sees Octavia sitting behind a tent talking to Lincoln and Bellamy. Supposedly she was off on some diplomatic thing, but Raven knows a conspiracy when she sees one. And she's pretty sure she knows what they're hiding.

The three of them immediately fall silent when she reaches them, but Raven ignores it.

"So," she says, after taking a deep swig of her moonshine. "You find her?"

"Find who?" Octavia asks. She's usually a fair liar, but this just reeks of subterfuge.

"Come on, guys," Raven says pointedly. "I'm not an idiot. I know you went looking for Clarke. And I know you well enough to know you probably found her. So how is she?"

Octavia glances at Bellamy, who shrugs, and then she sighs in defeat. Raven quickly lowers herself to the ground (well, as quickly as her brace allows) and waits expectantly.

"She's pretty good," Octavia admits. "She draws a lot. Gets all her own food. There's these two Grounder kids that visit her. One of 'em's teaching her to use a sword."

"But how is she?" Raven presses.

"She's healing," Octavia says. "She's not our old Clarke yet. But she's getting there."

"She ready to come home?" Bellamy asks.

"She doesn't think so," Octavia says. She doesn't sound entirely convinced.

"What about you?" Raven asks.

"I think," Octavia says, carefully enunciating each word, "that she's done as much as she can by herself. But I think she's scared to come back because of how we might see her."

"So how do we fix that?" Raven asks gamely.

"Show her we don't see her as a killer," Bellamy says.

"Yeah, but how?" Octavia presses.

"Drawing," Lincoln says. The other three turn to look over at him in confusion. "You said she draws. Art speaks to her. Maybe we can use that." They're all still staring at him blankly, so he elaborates. "I could draw our memories of Clarke. Let her see herself as we do."

"I like it," Raven says with a grin. "Use her own medicine against her."

"That just might work," Bellamy agrees. "Okay, I'm in. Let's bring our princess home."

They set up the operation in a corner of Raven and Wick's workroom. A table is cleared off, and it's there that Lincoln sits and draws. Raven acts as gatekeeper and runs any necessary interference, while Bellamy and Octavia quietly get the word out to the teens and help organize who comes to the workroom when. And one by one, they all come. They sit in a chair and describe their favorite memories of Clarke while Lincoln sketches it all out as quickly and in as much detail as he possibly can. Even Jasper appears at the workroom door one warm day with a tentative knock and a softly spoken story. And little by little, the sketchpad begins to fill.

Raven quietly watches it all from her part-littered worktable. Teenager after teenager relaying their favorite memories of Clarke. And seeing how much they care for Clarke, how much respect they have for her, only further solidifies Raven's own most treasured memory of Clarke. She told Lincoln it was waking up after the escape pod crashed and seeing Clarke's face smiling down at her like some kind of angel. That's the drawing that went into the book.

But in truth, Raven's most precious memory of Clarke is far deeper. And far too personal to share with anyone else. It's of sitting on the ground floor of the drop ship with a bullet in her back while her legs went numb and she wondered if she'd even survive the day, let alone walk again. She'd ended up having some kind of existential crisis, much to her embarrassment now. Clarke had been digging around under the floor for the right wires so they could rig the rockets to fry the Grounders. And right there, with an invading army at the gate and all their lives hanging by a thread, Clarke had stopped her work and taken the time to affirm Raven.

"I'd pick you first," she'd said. And it meant more to Raven than anyone will ever know.

Those words echo inside of Raven's mind as she watches the project go on. Clarke, who everyone sees as a hero, would pick Raven first. That thought finally gives Raven the courage she needs. She's been wishing Clarke were here for months, mainly just as a friend but also to help her get over this drill mess. Wick distracts her from it and Abby talks to her about it, but Raven knows Clarke would sit there beside her and hold her hand while she turned the infernal thing on and cursed and cried and hyperventilated until it no longer bothered her. Only Clarke's not here, so Raven's going to have to buck up and battle this demon by herself.

About a week into the drawing project, Raven finally decides to go for it. After Lincoln and his current subjects have cleared out, she closes the door to the workroom and gets a drill out of one of the bins. Just holding it makes her blood run cold. But she needs to do this.

 _I'd pick you first._

Raven sets her teeth and turns the damned thing on. Almost immediately she can't breathe. She quickly turns it off and struggles to calm her slamming heart. Hot tears are welling in her eyes, but thankfully there's no one around to see it. Once she can finally breathe again, Raven wipes her eyes and tightens her hand around the drill. She can do this. She can.

 _I'd pick you first._

She turns the drill back on.

After that it becomes something of a habit. Once the teenagers have cleared out and Wick has gone off on some job or other, Raven closes the door and makes a few attempts at using the drill. For a while all she gets is mild panic attacks. Then it starts just being shaky hands and gasping breaths. Finally she gets where she can turn it on with only a small lump in her throat and a slight stinging in her eyes. Then she starts actually using it. Setting the drill to metal triggers another breathing fiasco, but she keeps at it. All the while Clarke's words loop through her head, giving her the courage she needs. And day by day, it slowly gets easier.

The drawing project takes just over a month to complete. Strangely enough, so does Raven's recovery. The day Lincoln finishes the final picture is the day Raven sets a piece of metal on her table and drills holes in it until there's barely anything left. But not once do her hands shake or her eyes burn. Raven pulls off her safety goggles and grins. She's back, baby.

She heads over to the mess hall to grab some dinner before returning to the workroom. She wants to surprise Wick with her recovered skill. But halfway down the hall, Abby appears.

"Raven," Abby calls, causing Raven to stop walking so she can catch up. "Just who I was looking for. I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Raven asks curiously.

Abby holds out a folded piece of paper and presses it into Raven's hand.

"Make sure Clarke gets this," she says softly.

"I don't know where-" Raven begins with a shake of her head. Abby gives her a look.

"I'm not an idiot, Raven," she says with a raised eyebrow. "I know Octavia found her."

"How?" Raven asks in confusion.

"I'm the chancellor," Abby says with a knowing smile that makes Raven wonder if she knows about the sketchpad too. "I know a lot more of what goes on here than people think."

"Fair enough," Raven says, shaking her head. Abby starts to leave, but turns back.

"Oh, and when you have a minute," she adds, "Sergeant Miller has a job for you. It involves some drilling though. You up for it?"

"Yeah," Raven says immediately. "I can handle it."

"I thought so," Abby says. She gives that same knowing smile, and suddenly Raven has the oddest feeling that somehow Abby also knows about her drill practice as well.

"I'll be sure Clarke gets this," Raven says, sticking the folded paper into her pocket.

"Thank you," Abby whispers.

"We'll get her back," Raven says firmly. Abby just nods. She looks as if she's not quite sure she believes it, but that's okay. She'll see soon enough. This plan is going to work. Raven knows it.

The sketchpad full of drawings is still sitting on the workroom table, along with a blank one so Clarke has more paper. Raven flips the filled pad to the last page, a drawing of Clarke and Abby hugging. It was Raven's idea. Bellamy hadn't been sure if they could bring Abby into this project without her pushing too hard for Clarke's return, but Raven had insisted that Abby deserved to be represented somehow. Now she places the folded note on top of the drawing. Clarke's penciled face catches her eye, and she stares down at it for a long moment.

"I'd pick you first too," she says quietly.

She closes the sketchpad with the note trapped carefully inside. Then, on a sudden impulse, she flips open the blank sketchpad to its own last page. She grabs a pencil from the can on the table and quickly scribbles down a note of her own.

 _Alright, princess. You've sulked long enough. Now get your butt back here. –Raven_

She looks down at the page a moment before adding another line.

 _P.S. I_ _will_ _come find you and drag you back here if I have to._

That should do the trick. Raven puts the pencil back and closes the sketchpad. Lincoln leaves for the sea tomorrow. He'll make sure Clarke gets both sketchpads. Hopefully the message will sink in. Raven's own message might seem slightly insensitive to some, but she knows Clarke. Sometimes Clarke just needs a kick in the butt. She's like Raven that way.

Satisfied with her work, Raven grabs a toolkit, drill included, off her work table and heads out to find Sergeant Miller, whistling as she goes. She has a job to do.

* * *

Since you're already down here, please take a quick second to type a short review in the box. I cannot begin to tell you how happy reviews make me. The next chapter of this story was going to be the last, but I've had questions about other characters so there may be a few more. I'll keep you guys updated. And as always, thanks for reading!


	6. Lincoln

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: I know I said this chapter was going to be about Abby, but someone asked about a Lincoln chapter and I got inspired. So this chapter is about Lincoln instead. I also had a request for an Indra chapter, which may or may not happen. There will be an Abby chapter as promised, but it's going to be the last chapter in this set. So either the next chapter or the one after that, depending on whether or not I can come up with a good chapter for Indra. I wrote this chapter really fast and I haven't had a lot of time to edit it, so I'm not sure how good it is. It may be a bit weak. But hopefully you guys end up liking it. Enjoy!

Special Note: This chapter is for sydcasy. Hopefully you like it. :)

* * *

 **Lincoln**

It's a two day journey from Camp Jaha to the sea, but Lincoln doesn't mind. He's doing this for Clarke, and that's reason enough. He'd cross the whole continent for her if he needed to. They all would. But it had never even occurred to Lincoln to let someone else make this journey. Part of that's because this was his plan and it involves his drawings, so that makes it his responsibility to see them delivered. But all of that aside, it's also quite simply because he owes Clarke. Owes her far more than any of the others do.

When Lincoln had first come to Camp Jaha, he hadn't known what to expect. He hadn't been a total outsider, but he hadn't been one of them either. But over time he's managed to work his way in. It's been a long process, aided along the way by Octavia's love, Finn's willingness to work together, and Bellamy's eventual trust. Lincoln's decision to side with the Sky People over his own had also helped tremendously. But in the end, he knows the real reason these people decided to accept him as their own is because Clarke did it first.

The hundred look up to Clarke. Lincoln knew that the moment he woke up as a prisoner in the drop ship. Bellamy might have been his interrogator, but it was clear from the way he kept glancing at Clarke that she was really the one in charge, even if neither of them knew it consciously. If Clarke had fought against Lincoln's torture, not just protested but really fought, she could have stopped it. It had been clear in her eyes that she wanted to. She had taken no pleasure in his pain as some might have done. She had wanted peace, not war. But she had done what was necessary to save Finn, no matter how much pain it caused her. Not because she was in love with him, but because he was one of her people. She would've done the same for any of them, paid any price to protect her own. Not because it was her duty, but because she actually cared for them. And in that moment, even as the belt buckle tore through his skin, Lincoln had known that this was a leader he could truly respect. Not just admire as a military commander, but really and truly respect as a person. This was someone who commanded loyalty without ever asking for it. Someone who would take that power and use it for good.

That first impression of Clarke was why he had agreed to Finn's plan of a negotiation. And even though it had all gone wrong, that had been as much the fault of Lincoln's people as Clarke's. But Clarke hadn't given up. Time and again she had found ways to keep her people alive. And Lincoln's respect for her had only grown. That was why he had really betrayed his people to save her and Finn. Because this girl from the sky deserved better. Because in spite of everything he had been taught, something in Lincoln wanted to follow her.

When Clarke turned him from a Reaper back into a man, he had assumed it was only because she needed leverage to buy an alliance with his people. It hadn't bothered him though. If he was to be a pawn, he would much rather be one for Clarke than for the commander. At least Clarke would acknowledge any sacrifice he chose to make. It wasn't until that day outside of Tondc that Lincoln had realized Clarke considered him more than a pawn. When he urged her to kill him in order to save her people, her response had astounded him.

"You are my people," she had said before pulling the trigger and shooting his shoulder instead. She had refused to sacrifice him needlessly. She had treated him as one of her own. He wasn't just a pawn to her, not just a warrior to be thrown at the enemy. Lincoln mattered to her. Really mattered. And in that moment, Clarke had secured his loyalty for good.

Those four words had changed everything. The Sky People might have seen Lincoln as an ally before, but Clarke made him one of them. She not only saved him, but she also gave him a home among them. And for that, Lincoln can never repay her.

Which is why, when Octavia had said that Clarke was afraid to come back, Lincoln had known he had to do something about it. He had suggested using his ability to draw to try and help her. It's the very least he can do. And when it came time to add his own memory to the sketchpad, he drew Clarke as she had looked that day outside of Tondc with a hood over her head and a fierce defiance in her eyes. He had even carefully written out that small sentence beneath the drawing (Octavia had to help him since his English spelling is still not the best) just to be sure Clarke gets the message. She's fought for her people long enough. It's time to let them fight for her. Because they will. Even if she never asks them to.

Lincoln walks through the woods for two whole days with the sketchpad full of drawings and another empty one for Clarke to fill herself. He decides to sleep in the woods again the second night so he'll have the whole next day to comb the beach for Clarke. Octavia gave him a vague idea of where to find her, but she doesn't know the area well enough to be totally sure.

He spends most of the next morning searching. It's nearly afternoon when he finds the small cave that Octavia described to him. Clarke's not there, but the place looks much like his own cave once did. There's a blanket with some leaves and such serving as a sort of makeshift mattress, a container for water, some stored food, a small fire pit, a collection of odd items such as antlers and pine cones, and a few supplies that clearly came from somewhere else. Probably Mount Weather. Bellamy's convinced she was the one who moved all the bodies, so it makes sense that she would also have taken a few supplies.

Then there are the sketchpads. Lincoln flips through them while he waits for Clarke's return. Octavia might have only been able to read a touch of the emotions behind each one, but Lincoln is an artist. He sees between all the carefully penciled lines to what Clarke was feeling as she drew them. And as he progresses through the drawings, he can see a shattered heart slowly beginning to pull itself back together. By the time he reaches the last one, he's certain. Octavia was right. Clarke's almost ready to come home. She just needs the confidence to do it.

Lincoln leaves the cave and sits down on the warm sand outside while he waits. The sea stretches out before him, its waves rolling in to crash against the sound. He saw the sea once when he was a boy. The warrior who was training him brought him out here. He'd said everyone should see it at least once. And Lincoln agrees. It's a truly beautiful sight.

"Lincoln?" a voice calls.

He looks over his shoulder to see Clarke standing up the beach holding a pair of rabbits. A grin spreads across Lincoln's face as he gets to his feet. Clarke drops her rabbits to the sand and runs the rest of the way. When she's close enough, she wraps her arms tightly around his neck. Lincoln laughs and hugs her back.

"What are you doing here?" Clarke asks excitedly as she pulls away from the hug. Instead of answering, Lincoln picks up the rucksack and holds it out. Clarke takes it and looks inside curiously.

"More paper," Lincoln says, deciding against telling her the full truth. Let her discover it on her own. "Octavia thought you might be running out."

"Thank you," Clarke says sincerely. She glances briefly up and down the beach. "Where is Octavia?"

"She wanted to come, but she's busy with Indra," Lincoln says. "And if we're both gone this long, your mother would ask questions."

"Octavia didn't tell her?" Clarke asks in surprise.

"She told you she wouldn't," Lincoln says. That much isn't a lie. Although the full truth is that Octavia caved about a week ago and told Abby that she'd found Clarke. She had made a point though of leaving out exactly where Clarke was so Abby wouldn't be able to go hunt her down. But apparently the two of them bonded over something and Octavia had finally decided Abby that had a right to know. But Clarke doesn't have to know that. Besides, Lincoln doesn't think Abby knows about their project, so this visit still had to be kept under wraps.

"Indra guessed Octavia had found you, but she won't tell anyone," Lincoln adds. Another half truth. Indra won't tell anyone. But that doesn't meant the hundred don't already know. They all came to the workroom to contribute to this project, after all. But again, Clarke doesn't need to now that yet. She'll figure it out soon enough.

"How is everyone?" Clarke asks. There's a hint of longing in her eyes.

"They're good," Lincoln tells her honestly. "They're ready for you to come home."

"Not yet," Clarke says, glancing down at the rucksack with the sketchpads to avoid Lincoln's gaze. But then she looks up again. "But maybe soon."

That's better than Lincoln had expected. She really is almost ready. But until then, he's willing to respect her privacy.

"I should go," he says. "It's a long journey back."

Clarke looks both slightly disappointed and also relieved that he won't be staying. She gives him another hug, which Lincoln returns.

"Tell Octavia I said hello," she says as they pull apart.

"I will," Lincoln says. Then he adds, "When you're ready, you know where to find us."

Clarke just nods wordlessly. Lincoln turns around and heads up the beach, leaving her alone with the sketchpads. He makes a point of not looking back. He has a feeling he'll be seeing her again soon enough.

It takes two more days to get back to Camp Jaha. The sun is close to setting when Lincoln finally walks through the makeshift gate of the smaller camp. Octavia is sitting beside it on a large overturned can clearly waiting for him to come back. She jumps to her feet as he comes in. They exchange a warm hug and a quick kiss, and then Octavia pulls back expectantly.

"Well?" she asks, looking up at him. "How'd it go?"

"I didn't stay long," Lincoln admits. "But you were right. She's almost ready. She just needs to know it's safe to return."

"Do you think it'll work?" Octavia asks. Out of the four of them (Raven and Bellamy also helped oversee this plan), Octavia has been the least sure about it.

"It will," Lincoln assures her.

"It better," Octavia says. That fiery spark he loves so much has entered her voice. "If it doesn't, I might just drag her back here myself."

"It'll work," Lincoln says with a small chuckle. He takes Octavia's hand and steers her into the camp. "You'll see. She'll be home before you know it."

It still feels strange to hear himself calling this camp home. After Mount Weather, he had come here because he simply had nowhere else to go. But over the last six months, it truly has become his home. These people are now his own. And he wouldn't trade that for the world.

Even when he was one of the Woods Clan, Lincoln had always felt different. Between his love of drawing and his curiosity about people beyond his own, he had just never quite fit in. He had looked like them and talked like them. He had even become a great warrior like they wanted him to be. But inside he had just never felt like he belonged. But now he does. For the first time in his life, he feels like he knows where he's supposed to be. Clarke gave him that. Only now she's the one who is lost. But if Lincoln's art can somehow help her find her way back home, then he'll consider that a worthy down payment on his debt.

Among the Grounders, a chief who left their people would be considered weak. The village would cast them aside and choose a new leader. A stronger one. But not the hundred. Clarke has earned their eternal loyalty, just as she earned Lincoln's. They're willing to wait for her as long as they have to. And when she finally returns, her people will be waiting here to welcome her home.

And Lincoln is proud to say that he'll be standing right there with them.

* * *

So there you have it. Hopefully this chapter was good. Please leave a quick review letting me know your thoughts. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a sucker for reviews. The next chapter will either be Indra or Abby, depending on how things go. If you want to see an Indra chapter, let me know and I'll push my muse a little harder. We'll see what happens. But either way, there will be another chapter up in two days. So keep an eye out for that. Thanks for reading!


	7. Indra

Disclaimer: I own no part in this show.

Author's Note: One of the reviewers on this story asked about an Indra chapter, and I got inspired to write one. This was actually a lot of fun to write. Hopefully it all makes sense and doesn't feel too out of character. This story also makes mention of something from "This Is Life Without You", a story I wrote about Lexa dealing with the aftermath of her betrayal of Clarke and the coalition slowly crumbling around her. Feel free to check that out too. Enjoy!

Special Note: This chapter is for Airam4u who asked for Indra. Hopefully you like it.

* * *

 **Indra**

It is almost nightfall when Indra gets back to Tondc. She has been on a horse all day riding back from another of the commander's war councils. The coalition stands on the knife's edge. The clans have all chosen sides, and some of the braver ones have already made attempts to overthrow the commander. Lexa has been forced to result to brutal tactics to put down the rebellions. But the insurgents are like a wildfire, springing up somewhere else each time they are put down. Total war is imminent now. It's going to take a miracle to save the coalition.

A miracle or Clarke of the Sky People.

Indra still remembers the first time she laid eyes on Clarke. She had thought she was looking at a weakling. There was no way this girl could protect herself, let alone provide any help against the mountain. She and her people were as good as dead. Killing her then and there would have almost been a mercy. Besides, Clarke had earned her death with all the trouble she had caused the Woods Clan. But Lexa had seen something in Clarke that Indra could not, and so the girl from the sky had been allowed to live another day.

Over time, Clarke had indeed proved herself capable. Killing the boy she loved had shown true strength and an ability to do what necessary. When she and Lexa had let the missile strike Tondc, it had made the same point. And in spite of the destruction it had rained on Indra's people, she had found her respect for this girl growing further. She had followed Clarke for a time because Lexa had ordered her to. But by the end of it, she would have chosen to do it willingly. She had been wrong. Clarke was not just a weak girl. She was a worthy leader. A warrior. Then the coalition had abandoned the Sky People and Clarke had still managed to destroy the Mountain Men, and Indra had realized she had been wrong again. Clarke was more than a warrior. She was a whirlwind. A character worthy of legends.

It seems the rest of the coalition agreed, because the stories began almost immediately. Now, over half a year later, they have grown to mythical proportions. Even the most battle-hardened warriors say Clarke's name in reverent whispers. And while the magical powers often attributed to the sky girl may cause Indra to roll her eyes, she knows the sentiment behind them is true. Clarke is indeed a force to be reckoned with. She proved that when she toppled the mountain.

Which, Indra supposes, is why she willingly directed Clarke toward the sea back before winter came. That and she had disagreed with the commander's decision to abandon the Sky People. But Indra did not become a chief by disobeying orders. She would never turn her back on her commander, no matter how bad she thinks the decision is. But she respected Clarke far too much to not at least try and help her. Even great leaders need time to heal. Especially leaders who feel as much as Clarke does. Indra has always seen caring as a weakness, but after what Clarke did to the Mountain Men, she has begun to change her mind. Besides, if Clarke can find it in herself to come back from that, then she could become someone truly formidable. And when that day comes, Indra wants to be there to see it.

But so far Clarke has been gone for over half a year. Octavia and Lincoln have both made contact with her recently, and they seem to think she's almost ready to come back. Personally, Indra thinks she needs to hurry it up. Life has carried on without her. Camp Jaha is rising in prosperity while the coalition is threatening to blow itself apart. How the tables have turned. Much of Indra's time now is occupied with attending war councils and helping put down uprisings among the clans. Her mind is still going over possible battle strategies when she finally rides into Tondc. A young warrior greets her and holds her horse while she dismounts.

"Scouts have just returned," he blurts out almost before Indra's feet have even touched the ground. "They have seen Clarke of the Sky People. She is headed for her people's camp."

"Where is she?" Indra demands.

One of the scouts gives her directions and Indra immediately sets out back into the woods. Briefing her warriors can wait. She needs to see this for herself.

The woods around her are completely dark when she finally tracks down the place Clarke has made camp. The sky girl is sitting on the ground before a small fire. Indra watches from the trees for a moment while she tries to assess Clarke. She knows Clarke has made a previous trip back to Mount Weather, but this looks more permanent. There are two bags beside Clarke. And she no longer looks haunted like she did on that night two seasons ago.

"I know you're there," Clarke says with her gaze still directed down at the fire.

Her words surprise Indra. The last time they were here, Indra had watched her for some time before Clarke had even known she was there. It seems the sky girl is learning. Granted, she still built a fire after dark. That makes it all too clear where she is. But it suddenly occurs to Indra that maybe that was the point. Maybe Clarke was actually waiting for her this time.

Indra steps out of the trees into the light of the fire. Clarke looks up, and she seems completely unsurprised.

"Were you watching for me?" Clarke asks with a hint of humor. A good sign.

"Lincoln thought you might be returning soon," Indra says as she crouches down beside the fire. "I told my scouts to keep their eyes open. Are you returning to your people?"

"Yes," Clarke says with a nod. "I'm going home."

There is a spark of life in her eyes as she says it. It is not the fierce bonfire Indra has come to associate with this girl from the sky, but it is a start. Besides, with time and proper care, a spark can become a raging wildfire. There may be hope yet.

"You were gone longer than I expected," Indra says drily.

"There were a lot of ghosts to make peace with," Clarke says.

"And now?" Indra asks.

"The ghosts are quiet," Clarke says without hesitation. Indra understands from her own experience what Clarke is really saying. The ghosts are not gone, not yet. But for now they are manageable. And that is more than good enough for Indra.

Satisfied with what she has heard, Indra stands to her feet. She needs to get back to Tondc and tell her warriors the results of the war council.

"Your people will be happy to see you," she says. And they will. They have done well without Clarke, but they will do better with her.

Indra has turned around and is almost to the trees when Clarke calls after her.

"Indra?" Clarke says. Indra turns back around, her face asking the question. Clarke hesitates for a fraction of a second before saying, "Thank you."

There is a great deal of meaning hidden in those two words. They are not a formality between acquaintances, but a genuine expression of gratitude between equals. An acknowledgement of the part Indra in Clarke's recovery and the watch Clarke seems to know Indra has tried to keep over Camp Jaha. But leaders among the clans rarely show gratitude in this way. It is seen as a show of weakness, as a sign of needing others. But on Clarke it does not feel this way. On her, this admission somehow feels like strength. Not for the first time, Indra is struck by just how different this sky girl is from anyone she has ever known. She nods wordlessly in acceptance of Clarke's thanks and then steps into the cover of the trees.

She walks back toward Tondc with new determination. She saw what she needed to see. Clarke may not be entirely whole, but she is whole enough to do what Indra requires of her. Clarke's legend has spread far and wide across the clans. They see her as a mighty warrior. If she were to enter into this conflict, to choose a side among the coalition, it would certainly tip the scales in that side's favor. So far, the chancellor of the Sky People has declined to get involved in the affairs of the coalition. But Indra is certain that in time Clarke will come to see that it would benefit her people greatly to become involved. A fractured coalition will mean open war, and fighting all around the Sky People will eventually affect them. It is in the Sky People's best interest to ensure that the coalition stays intact. And that means siding with the commander against the other clans.

This idea has been brewing in Indra's mind for some time, but she needs Clarke whole for it to work. Lexa's betrayal of the Sky People was a heavy blow. But if Clarke has forgiven herself for her own choice at the mountain, than surely she can come to forgive Lexa for the same decision. They need not be friends as Indra knows they were before. They only need to be able to stand together. The mere knowledge that Clarke the legend stands with Lexa, that the formidable Sky People are backing the commander should be enough to quell most of the rebellion. There would still be a few defiant insurgents to put down, of course. But as a whole the fighting would decrease, which means Indra's own people would be far safer.

But there is another reason Indra needs Clarke to support the coalition. Lexa has changed since the mountain. Knowing what she did to Clarke, knowing that she betrayed her own heart and that she did it for nothing has broken something inside of her. For all her faults, Lexa is a good and mighty leader. One Indra is proud to support. One she has even grown fond of in her own way. But the events at the mountain have weakened Lexa. Indra knew it before, but the council last night has only confirmed it. She'll never tell anyone what she heard standing outside that tent last night after she and Lexa spoke of Clarke. The scream of rage and then something that sounded suspiciously like crying. Under normal circumstances, Indra would probably be disgusted at such a show of weakness from a leader, even if it was in the privacy of her own tent. But instead it only made her feel for the commander. (Apparently the Sky People are wearing off on her.) And that made her more determined than ever to do something about it.

The clans can sense Lexa's weakness now. The jackals are gathering, and they will not be held back much longer. Unless Lexa returns to her former strength soon, the coalition will surely collapse. The clans will return to their scattered and warring state. Lexa has taken them to new heights of greatness and prosperity, and they need her. They need her to be a strong leader. They need her to hold them together. And she needs Clarke. Only with Clarke's forgiveness will Lexa be able to finally heal herself. Indra had doubts about Clarke's ability to find that forgiveness. But after tonight, after seeing Clarke for herself, she knows it is possible. Clarke has healed herself. And if she can give Lexa the chance to finally heal too, if she can give the commander's side the strength it needs, then the coalition might finally have a real chance. Indra's people might have a chance.

It is strange, Indra thinks, how drastically the tables have flipped. There was a time when she wanted to kill Clarke for the trouble the sky girl had heaped on the Woods Clan. But now... Now Clarke just might save them all.

* * *

You know the drill. Please leave a review. It'll make me super happy. :) The next chapter will be up soon. It might be the last, but there could also be a few more character chapters after that. I'm not sure yet. We'll see what my muse does. I'll keep you posted. Also, if you want Lexa's point of view on her conversation with Indra and what exactly happened inside her tent while Indra was standing outside of it, then check out my one shot "This Is Life Without You". It follows Lexa through the first few months of Clarke's absence, and in my opinion, it's one of my best pieces. Thanks for reading!


	8. Jackson

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the hyperactive plot bunnies.

Author's Note: Well, my muse has intervened again. A reviewer mentioned Jackson, and then I got this beautiful idea so I wrote it down. But Abby does feature in here, so I'm not a total liar. This chapter is a bit of a different take than the others because Jackson would have known Clarke while she was growing up. Plus he's close to Abby, so that gives me a chance to show her from an outside point of view before posting her actual chapter. This chapter was a bit hard to write at first because I wasn't sure if I could find a good voice for Jackson, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Fair warning though, it is a bit sad. But hopefully it's sad in a good sort of way. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Jackson**

Jackson comes back to the infirmary after dinner to find Abby rearranging the shelves again. That's always a bad sign. Back when he was just a medical intern on the Ark, one of the first things Jackson ever learned was that when Abby Griffin gets frustrated or angry or worried or upset or in denial (actually, now that he thinks about it, pretty much any time she feels anything strongly other than happiness), she reacts by reorganizing the infirmary.

He hesitates in the doorway, trying to decide if he should just leave her be. But then Abby glances over her shoulder and sees him. Busted

"Hey, Abby," Jackson says awkwardly as he steps into the infirmary.

"How do you find anything in here?" Abby asks without looking up from the shelf. She pulls out a few more vials and shuffles them around. Jackson doesn't worry too much about the reorganizing. He's learned that when she finally tires herself out, Abby just puts it all back in the same place anyway. But something about the shuffling helps her straighten out her thoughts.

"The same way you did," Jackson says. He steps around one of the beds so he can stand beside Abby. "It's the same system you always used."

Abby pauses briefly, her hand hovering over a bottle of something. Then she moves it over and continues reshuffling the shelf.

"I always thought we needed a better one," she says. But there's no fire in her voice.

"Abby, what's wrong?" Jackson asks in concern.

"Nothing," Abby says strongly. Too strongly.

"You're shuffling supplies," Jackson points out. "You only do that when you're trying to distract yourself."

Abby hesitates with another container in her hand.

"You always did know me too well," she says with a hint of a smile.

"You want to talk about it?" Jackson asks. He almost regrets it because that small smile immediately falls from Abby's face. She forces herself to set down the container in her hand, and suddenly she looks more tired than Jackson has ever seen her.

"It's been a month," she says quietly.

"A month since what?" Jackson asks in confusion. Abby sigh and turns to face him.

"The kids had a plan to bring Clarke home," she begins.

"Wait, they found her?" Jackson asks in surprise. This is the first he's heard of it. Abby just nods. "Why didn't you say something?"

"They wanted it kept quiet," Abby explains with a tired shrug. "They didn't want anyone pushing her before she was ready. They really didn't even want me to know, but Octavia… Never mind. The point is they had a plan. And they all thought it would work. But it's been a month and she's still not home."

"Maybe she just needs more time," Jackson offers.

"I don't know," Abby says softly. She's staring at something over Jackson's shoulder as if she's unconsciously avoiding his gaze. "What if she doesn't want to come home?"

"Abby," Jackson whispers. So that's the real problem.

"Octavia seemed to think she was almost healed, and that was two months ago," Abby says. Her voice is suddenly incredibly strained. "They all think she's just waiting for something, but… What is she's just decided she doesn't want to come home?"

"Of course she wants to come home," Jackson says. He takes a step forward, trying to figure out how to make Abby see it. "You talked to Bellamy. You know how hard he said it was for her to leave. How upset she was."

"What if that's changed?" Abby asks. It could be Jackson's imagination, but he thinks he sees moisture welling in her eyes. "Being here was so hard on her. She took so much pressure on herself because she felt like she had to. And she and I… We butted heads over and over and over. What if it was just too painful for her? What if she found a better place out there and she doesn't want to come back to any of this?"

"If there is one thing that I know about Clarke," Jackson says strongly, "it's that she cares. That's why she wanted to be a doctor. It's why she wanted to help Jake warn everyone. It's why she did so much for the hundred. Because she cares. And she cares too much to just abandon everyone here."

"Maybe she should," Abby whispers. There are definitely tears in her eyes now. It shocks Jackson. In all his years working beside Abby, after all the tragedies and triumphs they've witnessed together, he can still count on his fingers the number of times he's seen her cry.

Abby sniffs and looks away, silently telling Jackson just how close she is to breaking.

"She's still a kid, Jackson," Abby continues. "She doesn't deserve any of this. She deserves to be happy. Maybe she should just stay where she is. Maybe I'm just being selfish for wanting her to come back."

Her voice is about to break now. Jackson reaches out and lays his hands on her arms in a desperate effort to stop that. He can't bear to watch his mentor, his friend, fall apart.

"You're not selfish," he tells her. "You just want your daughter back. That's not selfish. You've always wanted the best for Clarke. It's why you sent her down to Earth. So she'd have a chance to live. You love your daughter more than just about any parent I've ever seen. And Clarke knows that. And that love is why she's going to come home."

Abby nods, but it looks like it's just as much for her benefit as his. Like she's still trying to convince herself that he's right. Jackson reaches out and pulls Abby into a hug. There was a day he had been far too in awe of Dr. Abby Griffin to get through a handshake without stuttering, let alone dare to hug her. But they've come a long way since then.

Abby hugs him back tight, as if she's trying to draw strength from him.

"Thank you, Jackson," she says quietly.

"You're welcome," Jackson says.

Abby pulls away after a moment. She takes a deep breath and lets it out, and Jackson can almost see her chancellor mask falling into place.

"I have a meeting I need to get to," she says. She glances at the cabinet beside her and winces. "Sorry about the mess."

"Don't worry about it," Jackson says. "We need a new system anyway."

Abby chuckles a little at that.

"Don't work too late," she tells him with a fond smile.

"Yes, ma'am," Jackson says meekly.

Abby steps around him, and a moment later she's gone. Jackson looks the cabinet up and down. It's not too bad. There were times she had done far worse in the Ark's med bay. And to be perfectly honest, Jackson doesn't mind cleaning up after her. Abby's got enough on her plate. If messing up the cabinets helps her relieve some of that tension, then he's more than happy to let her keep doing it.

He pulls as many of the various containers as possible over to one side of the shelf Abby was working through and begins placing the items one by one back in their correct places. It reminds him of the many inventory checks he'd been forced to do while he was still an intern. Most of the interns had hated inventory, but Jackson had found it calming. Everything always had a proper place. It was far more stable than life on the Ark could sometimes be.

Of course, reorganizing the shelves also brings up memories of Clarke. There had been a few times when she was young that Abby had gotten called in after school hours and had been forced to bring Clarke along because Jake was busy with something. She had typically left Clarke with Jackson, her favorite intern, and sent him to do more inventory. Little Clarke had always been eager to help him. She had been curious and smart even at that age, happily absorbing whatever Jackson was willing to teach her. He's always wondered if that's part of why she wanted to be a doctor. Actually, she wanted to be an artist, but she's practical just like her mom. So instead she went for medicine, her second love, and left drawing for a hobby.

Jackson also saw a lot of the Griffins outside of work. Both of his own parents kept pretty busy, so Jackson spent more than his fair share of evenings with the Griffins. Those evenings had become more and more rare after he stopped being an intern, but they had still occurred every so often. When Clarke was older, she had often dragged him into medical trivia wars with Abby serving as referee. Jake had always complained that he couldn't understand all the medical jargon, but it was clear from his smiles that he was too proud of his little girl to make them stop. Once Clarke became a medical intern, she had even worked beside Jackson and Abby a bit in the infirmary. She had been headed for a bright future.

And then Jake had gotten arrested and Clarke had gone down with him. She's been through hell these last two years. And amazingly, she's risen to the challenge. She's grown up almost beyond the point of recognition. But somewhere along the way she got stuck in Jackson's head as that tiny inquisitive girl asking him how there could be different types of blood if everybody's looked the same. In some ways, he figures the same is true of Abby. She looks at Clarke and she sees her baby girl. That's why the last six months have been so hard for her. The mother in Abby just wants to hold her daughter and make it all better. But she can't. She can't fix this. She can't protect Clarke anymore. None of them can. All they can do is wait.

For most of them, that's been the hardest bit. But not for Jackson. What worries him is thinking about who will finally walk back through that gate. He knows Clarke will come home. He knows it in his bones. But that curious little girl that followed him around the med bay... Her Jackson will never see again. She's gone forever, destroyed by what she's been through. And no matter how much Jackson wishes it, he knows in his heart that she's never coming back.

He's pulled out of his thoughts by the realization that the labels on the containers in front of him are beginning to blur. Tears for innocence lost, he supposes. And it's not just Clarke. It's everyone in this camp. They may heal, but they will never again be the same. In some ways, Jackson supposes, that's one of the harder parts of being a doctor. No matter how much you want to, there are some things you just can't heal. You can fix the external, of course. You can stitch the wound back together. But the scars remain. And learning to live with it… Well, that's up to the patient.

Jackson wipes his eyes and quickly moves the final containers into their proper places. It's not that he doesn't want Clarke to come home. He does. Abby needs her. So do Bellamy and the other surviving members of the hundred. And after all those hours spent in the Griffin's living room, some part of Jackson still sees Clarke as something similar to a little sister. (Although he doubts she sees him as anything more than her old babysitter or her mother's former protégé.) He really does miss her. And he'll be just as glad as everyone else when she finally comes home.

But that doesn't stop him from mourning the inquisitive little innocent who never will.

* * *

As always, please take a second and write a quick review. It doesn't even have to be a complete sentence. Any kind of feedback at all is greatly appreciated. And thanks to all of you who have reviewed previous chapters. You have no idea how happy it makes me. I've sort of given up on putting a cap on how many chapters this story will be because people keep asking for different ones and then my muse takes off. So for now the plan is to possibly do a Miller chapter next if my muse will cooperate, then Abby (finally), then hopefully Kane, and finally Lexa to end it. This is obviously subject to change, but that's the tentative plan at this point. I hope you guys will continue to stick with me for the rest of this story. And feel free to check out all my other stories for this fandom. Thanks for reading!


	9. Miller

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a fickle muse who occasionally sees fit to grace me with story ideas.

Author's Note: This chapter was not in my original plan, but a reviewer asked for Miller and I decided to give it a go. It ended up being one of the hardest for me to write because it took me a while to get a decent voice for him. I'm still not sure I'm completely happy with it, but I think this is the best it's going to get. It's not my favorite of these chapters. But I do feel like it still fits into this compilation, so here it is. Enjoy!

Special Note: This chapter is for alvick53, who requested a chapter on Miller. Hopefully you like it.

* * *

 **Miller**

Nathan Miller wakes up to see hints of sunlight coming through the walls of his tent. Morning has arrived. A year ago his dad would have practically had to drag him out of bed. But those first insane months on the ground have worked wonders. Now he swings his legs over the side of his cot and puts on fresh clothes. Then he sits back down and starts lacing up his boots. He's a member of the guard now, a contributing citizen, and that means he has a job to get to.

Discipline hadn't been much of an issue for Miller as a kid. He'd grown up in a military household. His father was a guard, and it was just assumed that he would be too. And he had been fine with that. At least, he had at first. It was only once he'd gotten older and teenage rebellion had struck that Miller had started pushing the limits. But as chief guard of Alpha Station, his dad had always found a way to bail him out. Well, until Miller had finally gone too far and gotten himself arrested for theft. But even then he hadn't been too worried. He'd get reviewed at eighteen and his dad would find a way to bail him out again just like always.

Only that day never came. Instead, the hundred got sent down to Earth as human test subjects. And Miller went with them. Down into a world where his dad could no longer bail him out. Where he had to fend for himself. Miller had reveled in the freedom at first just as all the others had. And then the Grounders had appeared and he'd realized that what this place really needed was some military talent. Luckily for him, military was something he knew how to do.

It had taken Bellamy some time to notice Miller because he wasn't as power-hungry as some of the others. But Miller knew how to follow orders and get things done. So when Bellamy had noticed him, Miller had quickly become one of the inner circle. He also knew a bit about guns from his dad, which only increased his value once the hundred finally had rifles.

Miller had looked up to Bellamy back then. He still does. But there was one person he had come to look up to more, and that was Clarke. Little by little, her decisions had earned Miller's respect, not only as a leader but also just as a person. It had happened so slowly Miller hadn't even realized it was going on. It hadn't hit him fully until the day of that fateful battle in front of the drop ship. Bellamy had gone down, and Miller had been faced with a choice. Try to fight his way to Bellamy or give him up and get Clarke to safety. Miller's always been quick on his feet. He gets that from his dad. He knows how to weigh out options in a split second. That day he had weighed out in the space of a gunshot which leader the hundred needed more. And he had picked Clarke. He had herded her inside, leaving Bellamy to his fate. Because for all of Bellamy's experience, Clarke was the one they couldn't live without.

She still is in a way. It's been six months since she left, and the smaller camp is still waiting for her to come home. They've managed to move on in a lot of ways, but not that one. Bellamy fills that void as best he can. He's the head of the guard now, a distinction earned by what he did to get the others out of Mount Weather. Miller himself had to go through a few months of training as a cadet before he was officially inducted into the guard. But now that he is, he sees a lot of Bellamy. They actually share a tent, although Bellamy's always gone when Miller wakes up because he likes to take the daybreak watch. The two of them go out on patrols together every now and then. It feels almost like old times back at the drop ship. It still seems strange to Miller that after everything that went down at the drop ship, so many of these kids (himself included) still look back on that time with a certain level of nostalgia.

Miller also sees a lot of his dad now. His dad is second in command of the guard under Bellamy, and he's clearly grooming his son to follow in his footsteps. (Miller already leads the guard in the smaller camp.) At some point they developed a habit of taking the sunset watch together. They spend most of that time just talking to one another. Their relationship is better now than it's been in years. For the first time, Miller feels like he's actually making his dad proud. It's almost funny, really. After everything that went on, Miller is finally a guard just like his dad wanted. All it took was two months on the ground to finally whip him into shape.

He and Monty also have a sort of joint leadership of the smaller camp. (Under Bellamy, of course.) Miller's not really sure how that happened. A year ago he was getting himself busted for theft, and now he has over forty teenagers looking up to him. He and Monty do the best they can to handle any disputes and make sure there's enough supplies for everyone. And so far, they've done a pretty good job. But there's an unspoken agreement between them that it's only temporary. Clarke is the real leader. They're just keeping her chair warm. And to be perfectly honest, that's fine with both of them. They're both capable of being in charge if they have to. But they'd both rather be a little further from the spotlight. Monty would rather be tech and emotional support, while Miller likes being a soldier with orders. And although Camp Jaha may have been at peace for the last six months, there are still orders to follow. Chief among them is Clarke's last request to Bellamy, which he then passed on to Miller – keep these people safe and alive until Clarke comes back. And that's exactly what Miller plans to do.

For six months now he's been following that order. These kids were hurting pretty badly when they got out of the mountain. It's taken a lot of work to put them all back together. But Miller hadn't minded. It's given him something to do. Besides, he got over his own trauma pretty fast. Sure, he'd had a few sleepless nights just like the rest of them. But stuff like that just doesn't tend to stick with Miller. As long as he's got something to focus on, all the rest just sort of rolls off. In this case, that something was Clarke's final order. Technically it wasn't really an order, but that's how Bellamy treats it. And with Clarke gone the chain of command puts Bellamy in charge, so Miller is more than willing to follow his example. Besides, all leadership positions aside, he's honestly come to think of Clarke as a friend. And Miller is nothing if not loyal. So if this is what Clarke needs him to do, then he'll gladly go down doing it.

Once his boots are laced up, Miller pulls his pant legs down over them. Then he gets up and dons the body armor of the guard. The first time he put it on, it had amazed him just how right it felt. He's gotten used to it now, but the uniform still gives him a sense of pride.

He ducks out of his tent and into the camp, most of which is already waking up as well. Some of the residents are preparing to head over to the main camp's mess hall for breakfast. Others are just now stumbling out of their tents rubbing sleep from their eyes as they go in search of water or cold leftovers from last night's dinner. (Most of the former delinquents eat lunch in the mess hall since it's more convenient for their work schedules, but for dinner their own people find and prepare food that they all eat together in the smaller camp.)

Miller greets his fellow residents with smiles and waves as he walks through the camp. They give him the same, along with some respectful nods. Monroe is waiting at the main gate, standing watch with a rifle slung over her shoulder. She's officially still a cadet, but Bellamy has worked out a deal with Abby that the cadets in the smaller camps are allowed to use guns in a certain capacity. They also have their own watch system, which Miller is in charge of organizing.

"Anything to report?" Miller asks as he stops beside Monroe.

"No sir," she says, shaking her head. She's gotten pretty good at this military thing too.

"Good," Miller says approvingly. Monroe is his own second in command, and she's a damn good one. Miller glances out at the road past the makeshift gate as he gives her today's orders. "There's a hunting party leaving this afternoon. I want you and Jones to go with them. Most of them are experienced, so there shouldn't be any trouble. I just want to be sure…"

He trails off as movement down the road catches his eye. Monroe gives him a strange look before trying to follow his gaze. The shape comes closer, and now Miller can tell that it's a person. Monroe takes her gun off her shoulder out of habit. They've trained her well.

"We have any people out?" she asks.

"Just Kane's resupply crew, but they shouldn't be back yet," Miller says. He squints, trying to see the person better. "It's not a Grounder."

Suddenly Monroe gasps audibly.

"No way," she whispers. "Is that Clarke?"

Miller's eyes widen as he realizes she's right. The figure's close enough now for him to see her blonde hair and the way she carries herself. There's no mistaking it.

"I'll be damned," he says with a grin. "It's her."

"She's back!" Monroe yells excitedly, turning over her shoulder so the shout carries into the rest of the camp. "Clarke's back!"

It's like she's said the sky is falling. Suddenly the camp is filled with movement. Teens leap to their feet and come running out of tents. They're all shouting questions as they make their way toward the front of the camp.

"Help me with this," Miller tells her as he takes hold of the gate.

Monroe slings her gun back over her shoulder and together they pull the gate open. A crowd of teenagers quickly gathers around them. The yelling it still going on, but it's turned from demanding questions to joyous exclamations.

The crowd parts temporarily to let Monty through before surging back in behind him.

"Is it really her?" he asks anxiously.

"It's her," Miller confirms over his shoulder.

The gate finally opens fully, and the teenagers pour through the entrance. They all make their way out onto the road in a giant pack. They stop in front of the gate to Camp Jaha, all of them anxiously waiting for Clarke to reach them. She's seen them now, and there's a smile forming on her face. Miller can feel himself starting to smile as well. The queen has finally returned to her people. Miller has no doubt that she'll be proud of what they've accomplished. He and Bellamy have followed her orders to the letter. They kept her people safe. And now that she's back, they'll be able to do even more than they already have. An army may be able to function without a commander, but it always does better when it has one.

And theirs has finally come home.

* * *

If you're reading this sentence, please take a quick second to write me a short review. You guys have no idea how happy your feedback makes me. It's honestly why I keep writing this stuff. This chapter brought us up to Clarke's return, but I can assure you that future chapters will still uphold the theme of showing what life was like during her absence. The next chapter will finally be Abby (No, really. I promise.) and will show her take on life without Clarke as well as her point of view on Clarke's return. Then there will still be either one or two chapters after that, depending on my muse. However, my family is going on vacation for a few days, and I'm not entirely sure how much internet access I'll have while we're gone. So the next chapter could be up in two days as per usual or it may not be up until early next week. We'll just have to see. If you don't want to wait, feel free to check out my other stories for this show. In particular "The Long Road Home" because the third chapter of that will show you Clarke's point of view on part of the next chapter of this story. Thanks for reading!


	10. Abby

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: After so many times of putting it off, I finally got to the point where I could post this chapter. It rehashes a little bit of the events from Miller's chapter, but it shows them from a different point of view and then goes beyond them. It should all make sense. Some of you were concerned about how I would write Abby, so hopefully you like how this chapter turned out. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Abby**

Abby's morning routine is always the same. Get up, get dressed, go to the mess hall to discuss the coming day over breakfast with Kane, drop by the infirmary to see if Jackson has anything to report, and then go out to the main gate and talk to Bellamy. Talking to Kane and Jackson is necessary, and Abby tells herself it's the same with Bellamy. He is the head of the guard, after all. But the real truth, which she's never admitted to anyone, is that the reason she talks to Bellamy each morning has nothing to do with security. It has to do with Clarke.

Ever since Clarke left, Abby's eyes always tend to drift towards the main gate whenever she's in the yard. She supposes her subconscious keeps hoping to see Clarke walking down that winding road. She never does, of course. But that doesn't stop her from hoping.

It took her a while to notice that Bellamy was doing the same thing. She had just assumed when he started taking the daybreak watch every day that it was just as a matter of principle. He took daybreak and Sergeant Miller took dusk, the first and second in command making sure their people started and ended the day in safety. But one morning Abby had gone out to ask Bellamy about a patrol, and she had caught his eyes drifting toward the road. Looking for Clarke just like she always does.

After that it had turned into a routine. She goes out every morning and they find something official sounding that they can discuss while they both pretend not to be watching the road for Clarke. They never talk about what they're really doing. They don't have to. They both know, and there's a sort of quiet solidarity in it that seems to comfort both of them.

Abby supposes they should be proud of what they've accomplished here. And in many ways she is. Camp Jaha is flourishing. They made it through their first winter with no serious trouble, although much of that is due to Indra and the others from Tondc. Octavia and Lincoln have done wonders for relations between Camp Jaha and that particular village. And the truce with the Grounders has given Camp Jaha more than six months of peace. In that time, the people from the Ark have flourished. It seems as if they've finally found paradise.

But paradise can be a lonely place. True, Abby has Kane, and they're certainly growing closer as time goes on. (A fact that draws no small amount of smug glee from Raven.) Some might even call it dating, although neither one of them has used that term yet. Sergeant Miller is also incredibly helpful when it comes to running things, and so is Bellamy. On the smoother days, which there seem to be quite a few of recently, Abby even has time to go down to the infirmary and work beside Jackson. Not that he needs her help. But they both enjoy the company. Raven and Abby also share a friendly drink every few days. Abby's grown used to Raven's familiar attitude, and the young mechanic is good company. So Abby is certainly not short on interaction.

But when things slow down enough that she has a chance to think, she always finds her gaze drifting toward the gate. There's still something missing here, and Abby will never be truly satisfied until that piece finally comes home. But there's nothing she can do about it now. In truth, that's the hardest part. Knowing that she's powerless to help her daughter. That Clarke's out there hurting, and Abby can't do a thing to make it better. She just has to sit here and wait until Clarke's finally ready to come home. And Abby Griffin has never been good at waiting.

"She'll be back," Bellamy says quietly. Abby looks up and realizes she's been staring out at the road too long for him to pretend to ignore it.

"I know," she says. But she isn't so sure. It's been over six months. What if Clarke decides she'd rather just stay away? Jackson doesn't think that's true, and he tried convince Abby of that fact last night. But she still worries. What if her daughter never comes home?

She forcibly stops that train of thought as she pulls herself back to the present.

"I'm sorry," she says, turning to Bellamy. "You were saying something?"

"I said I think you should consider giving the hundred a representative on the council," Bellamy tells her. The two of them have certainly come a long way these last few months. They talk almost like equals now, and Abby often gives real weight to his advice.

"Why?" she asks curiously. "There are, what, forty-six of you in that camp? Forty-seven if you count Raven. That's a pretty small group for a whole representative."

"A group that functions on its own," Bellamy points out. "They pull their weight. Get their own food. And I think it would make them feel more a part of things. Sure, they work in Camp Jaha. But they choose to live in a separate camp. To them, it's still us and you. We were on our own down here for a whole month. We learned to care for ourselves. To run things on our own. They let you back in charge because they needed a break. But that won't last forever. They're gonna want that autonomy back. If you give them a real say, I think it would help."

"You make a good case," Abby says, barely concealing a smile. It never ceases to amaze her how much Bellamy cares for those kids and how much he steps up for them. Abby doesn't know what she'd do without him. "I'll talk to Kane about it and let you know what we decide."

Bellamy's reply is interrupted by an excited yell. Abby looks through the fence at the smaller camp outside it to see Monroe pointing excitedly down the road.

"She's back!" someone yells.

Abby's eyes swing back to the road where a person has suddenly appeared. She holds up her hand against the sunlight as her heart begins slamming in her chest.

"Is that..." She can't even finish her sentence for fear the figure will vanish.

"Clarke," Bellamy whispers.

Abby can only stare. The blonde head of hair is indeed her daughter's. Clarke is coming home. Abby's imagined this moment a thousand times, but she'd started to wonder if it would ever happen. And now that it's finally here, she's too shocked to move. So, it seems, is Bellamy.

Shouts are rising from the smaller camp now. A flood of teenagers comes spilling out of their tents, all of them calling questions. The noise only gets louder as they all make the same realization Abby just made. For a moment they stand frozen, just as Abby is. And then they all take off down the road toward Clarke.

"Open the gate!" Abby yells, shaking herself out of her shock.

One of the other guards scrambles to do as she said. The metal contraption swings open with maddening slowness. Abby watches through the metal slats as the teens swarm Clarke in a cloud of hugs and cheers. Then finally the gate is open enough that Abby can get out.

She hurries down the road as fast as her leg will allow. Mount Weather left its mark on her just as it did everyone else. She doesn't limp anymore, but she can't really run either. It seems to take her an eternity to make it down the road to the crowd gathered around Clarke. Things seem to have calmed a little by the time Abby reaches them. The loud cheering has turned to conversation in the middle of the group with everyone else straining to hear.

Miller is on the edge of the group, and he glances over his shoulder just as Abby reaches them. He immediately pulls back to make room. The others around him notice as well, and within a matter of seconds the crowd has parted to create a path straight to the center. And there in the middle is Clarke, alive and well. The sight of her takes Abby's breath away.

Clarke's eyes widen as she sees Abby, and then they're both just staring at each other.

"Clarke?" Abby says. Her voice is barely a whisper.

"Mom," Clarke chokes.

Abby's hand flies up to her mouth to cover a small sob and her vision blurs as tears of joy fill her eyes. And then Clarke is running toward her. She crashes into Abby, who lifts her arms and hugs Clarke so tightly it's a wonder she can still breathe.

"Oh, baby," Abby manages. The tears have begun to trickle down her face now, but she couldn't care less. Clarke is here. Really and truly here. Abby goes back and forth between kissing Clarke's head and cradling it in an effort to convince herself that this moment is actually happening. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too," Clarke says. Her voice is hoarse from her own emotion.

Abby makes herself pull back after a moment so she can take Clarke's face in her hands. Her eyes quickly scan for injuries, physical or otherwise. Clarke's clothes are a bit worn, her face a little tanned, her hands calloused in new places, and her hair a touch more wild than when she left. But her eyes are alive again. And that sight is more beautiful than anything Abby has ever seen. Clarke is okay. Really and truly okay.

Abby gives a watery smile, which Clarke returns. Her baby girl is finally home. And with her return, Abby's heart is finally whole again.

Clarke glances over Abby's shoulder and something in her face softens. Abby follows her gaze to see that Bellamy has finally pulled out of his own shock and is now standing a few steps behind her. He looks like Abby feels. Like someone who has finally sound their missing piece.

Abby forces herself to step back so Clarke can walk over to Bellamy. He's the only person in this camp who missed Clarke as much as Abby did. And after all the help he's been these last few months, Abby owes him this moment.

Something nudges Abby's shoulder, distracting her from the touching reunion. She looks to her right to see that Raven has appeared beside her.

"I told you we'd get her back," Raven says, giving Abby a knowing grin.

"Yes, you did," Abby says with a bright smile. "Remind me never to bet against you."

"You already did that," Raven reminds her."It didn't go so well for you."

Abby laughs, remembering the bottle of moonshine.

"I guess not," she says. Raven smiles back before turning more serious.

"We're gonna be okay, Abby," she says confidently. They've been saying that to each other since that first night in the infirmary after Mount Weather, but this time it's different. This time it sounds like Raven actually believes it.

Abby turns back to Clarke and Bellamy, who are pulling out of a warm hug. Like two halves of a whole that have finally been reunited. And Abby's heart has never felt so full.

"Yes," she agrees. "I think we are."

* * *

You guys know the drill. Please take a second and leave a review. You have no idea how happy they make me. If you want to see Clarke's return in full and from her point of view, check out the third chapter of "The Long Road Home." If you want to know what Raven meant by her comment about betting and moonshine, check out my one-shot "Raise Your Glass" and its prequel "The Sun Will Rise", both of which look at Abby and Raven's friendship. They're a little more on the humorous side, so they should be fun reads. As for this story, I hope to have Kane's chapter up in two days as per usual, but it may be a day late because I'm not sure how much writing time I'll have this weekend. Worst case scenario, it'll go up Tuesday instead of Monday. If you can't wait that long, feel free to check out some of my other work in the meantime. And as always, thanks for reading!


	11. Marcus

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: So this chapter is a day later than the rest. My family was out of town for a few days and we got back super late, so I decided to wait until today when I could be sure I liked what I had written. But the rest of this story should stick to my usual update schedule. A couple of people asked for a chapter on Kane, and since I've been writing the characters everybody else asked for, I decided to give it a shot. I'm not sure how happy I am with this chapter. I hard a really hard time finding a good voice and arch for him. But I think it ended up fairly in character. Hopefully you guys will agree. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Marcus**

It's late afternoon when the scavenging team get back to Camp Jaha. Theoretically, if a person didn't dawdle and didn't mind walking a bit in the dark, the trip to and from Mount Weather could be made in a day. But Marcus prefers to do it in two. Despite the truce with the Grounders, he doesn't like his people out after dark unless absolutely necessary. Plus it gives the scavenging party more time to look. (It's getting harder to find supplies they haven't already picked over, although they're still finding new nooks and crannies.) So they make the trip two days. It feels odd sleeping in the silent halls of the mountain, but better safe than sorry.

Technically Marcus doesn't have to go on these supply runs. But carrying back things like medicine makes him feel useful. It's not that he isn't useful in camp. He's on the council, which makes him a significant part of the ruling body. He gets a say in practically every decision Abby makes. But sometimes it's just nice to have something to do with his hands.

He goes out into the woods every now and then and checks on the small tree his mother once cared for. He wasn't sure the tree would make it through the winter, but it did. Just like their people. It's every bit as resilient as they've turned out to be.

It still amazes Marcus how far they've come since reaching the ground. Camp Jaha is thriving, and it makes him proud. Proud of their people and of the part he's been allowed to play here. He considers himself beyond lucky to have a hand in the future his people are building here. But it's also more than that. There are things in his past he's not proud of. Things he can't take back. Chief among them is killing over three hundred of his own people. That decision can never be undone. But by serving his people now, by doing what he can to secure a future for those who remain, Marcus feels like he's slowly earning his redemption.

There are a few people who still harbor grudges against him. Namely the hundred. Marcus doesn't blame them. He was part of the body that sent them to prison. Some of them deserved that harsh sentence, but others, like Octavia Blake, didn't. True, many of them would have been released at eighteen. But Marcus was also responsible for floating some of their friends and family. These kids hate the old council and all it represented to them. They seem to have forgiven Abby because she's Clarke's mother. And if they can't have the Griffin they want, they'll settle for the other one. Besides, since coming to Earth, Abby has made several calls that have earned her some respect from that bunch. But Marcus is a different story. They obey him because Bellamy says to. But it's clear he has a long way to go before he'll have their loyalty.

It doesn't stop him from trying though. That's part of why he goes out with some of the patrols and supply teams. It's good for those kids, and the rest of the camp, to see him doing his part. To know that the council is not a ring of cushy seats for the privileged few. Down here, everyone pulls their weight. Even so, it'll be a long time before these kids accept him, and they'll probably never look up to him the way they do young Clarke. But while they may not see him as their people, Marcus still sees them as his. He'd look out for them even if Clarke hadn't left. But her departure makes it even more important. She saved him in Mount Weather too. And by extension, probably the rest of Camp Jaha as well. Marcus owes her at least this much.

Besides, he's one of the few people who truly understands why she left. The others may know the reason, but Marcus understands. He knows what it's like to have that many lives hanging over his head. Despite what people think, he didn't want bloodshed anymore than Clarke did. But they both did what they thought was right for their people. And then they had to learn to live with it. At least Marcus signed up for it. Well, not that specifically, but he took the job knowing there would be hard calls. But Clarke never asked for any of this. She stepped up because she had to. Besides, Marcus had already been hardened by the world. Clarke was introduced to harsh reality far too fast. And the magnitude of it broke her. That's the real reason Marcus let her go. He had seen the brokenness in her eyes, and even the thought of what it would do to Abby hadn't been enough to make him stop her. This was partially his fault, after all. She had only come down to Earth because he had insisted she be punished along with her father. And maybe her presence had kept them all alive, but she still deserved better. Much better. And so Marcus had let her go, vowing to guard her people until she returned.

And that's exactly what he's done. He's had to work mostly through Bellamy, seeing as he's who those kids will listen to. But Bellamy's actually come to genuinely look up to Marcus, and they've developed a sort of mentorship. It's quite incredible, really. That boy came to the ground as a disgraced janitor, and now he's the head of the guard. And Marcus has a feeling there's a day coming when he'll be a leader for all of these people.

Bellamy is conspicuously absent from the main gate when Marcus and the rest of the supply crew reach it. Usually someone under his command has seen the team coming up the road and gone to fetch him so he can brief Marcus on anything important that happened during his absence. But instead it's Sergeant Miller who opens the gate. A group of civilians appear to help with the supplies, and Marcus hands off his heavy bag to one of them.

"Good haul?" Sergeant Miller asks as the civilians carry off the supplies.

"We found most of what we were looking for," Marcus says. He rubs his sore shoulder and looks around the main yard before turning back to Sergeant Miller. "Where's Bellamy?"

"In the mess with the others," Sergeant Miller says. Then his eyes widen and a grin appears on his face. "You haven't heard yet, have you? Clarke came home."

"She's back?" Marcus asks in amazement.

"She got here this morning," Sergeant Miller says. "Some of the kids talked their way into a day off to see her. They're in the mess now. Abby and Bellamy are with them."

Marcus can't quite believe it. He heads straight to the mess hall to see for himself. But sure enough, Abby, Bellamy, and about ten of the former delinquents are crammed around a table talking and laughing. And there, at the head of the table, sits Clarke herself. Only once he sees her smiling face does Marcus finally allow himself to believe it. Clarke has come home.

No one at the table has seen him yet, so he stands there in silence and just drinks it all in. The former delinquents all look happy. Happier than Marcus has ever seen them. Even stoic Lincoln is smiling. And there's a twinkle in Bellamy's eyes that hasn't been here since Clarke left. Her absence was hard on him, a constant reminder of his own scars. He and Clarke are like two parts of a whole. They fit together in a way no one could have ever predicted. And without her, it's been a struggle for Bellamy to bear all the responsibility alone. He's managed it, but it's taken a lot out of him. But now he looks like he's finally found himself again.

The most remarkable change, however, is in Abby. For as long as Marcus has known her, Clarke has been the center of Abby's world. Everything she does is to make a better life for her daughter. That's part of why there had once been so much animosity between she and Marcus. She hadn't been able to forgive him for imprisoning Clarke. Learning Clarke was alive on the ground had helped, and since then they've come a long way. But Clarke is still the dearest thing in Abby's world, even if she doesn't always show it. Which is why Clarke's departure nearly broke her. She's been a shadow of herself these last few months. Yes, she's done a remarkable job as the chancellor. But when work stops and the chancellor mask comes off, it's clear she's in pain. That her heart is broken, and there's nothing anyone can do to mend it. Only now Clarke has gone and done the one thing that can. She's made her mother whole again. The joy on Abby's face makes that clear. And it warms Marcus' heart like nothing else.

The kids notice him suddenly, and all conversation pauses. Marcus isn't really sure what to say. Clarke does seem to have developed a certain respect for him, and she did ask him to take care of Abby. But he's also the man who floated her father and had her locked up. Besides, it's clear from the way the teenagers are starting to fidget that he makes them uncomfortable.

"Don't mind me," he says modestly.

He's about to turn and leave them all in peace, but a scraping chair stops him. Clarke has gotten to her feet and is making her way around the table. Marcus expects her to maybe shake his hand, but to his utter shock, she wraps her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"Thank you," she says so quietly that only he can hear. There's so much meaning in those two words. _Thank you for letting me go. Thank you for taking care of my mom. Thank you for being there for Bellamy. Thank you for keeping an eye on my people when I couldn't._

Marcus hardly knows what to say. This is a girl he imprisoned. The daughter of a man he had floated. A girl who not only overcame, but somehow turned into exactly the sort of leader Marcus wishes he could be. She should hate him. But in spite of all of his mistakes, here she is hugging him. If Thelonius were here, he'd probably call it a sign. Some kind of cosmic confirmation that Marcus has finally managed to achieve redemption.

He wraps his own arms tentatively around Clarke.

"You're welcome," he says quietly.

Clarke pulls away before things can get awkward and smiles up at Kane.

"You can join us if you want," she says, motioning at the table.

"I have some business I need to take care of," Marcus apologizes. In truth it could probably wait, but these kids have waited for their friend long enough. He doesn't want to intrude. But he can't stop himself from adding, "But maybe we could talk later if you wanted?"

"I'd like that," Clarke says honestly. "We probably have a lot to talk about."

She glances briefly in her mother's direction and then back again before giving him a knowing smile. Kane finds himself wondering if she knows about the growing relationship between himself and Abby. But if she does, she must approve, because she says nothing.

"I'll leave you to it then," Marcus says.

Abby is watching him over Clarke's shoulder, and he gives her a smile before exiting the mess hall. He can hear laughter ringing down the corridor after him. He pauses for a moment, listening with a smile as Clarke's voice enters the fray again. It doesn't matter to him that she was able to help those kids where he couldn't. What matters is that his people are safe, they're happy, and they're whole. And at the end of the day, that's really all Marcus ever wanted.

* * *

Please, please let me know what you think what you think about this chapter. You guys have no idea how much your feedback means to me. The next chapter will be Lexa's point of view when she learns Clarke has returned home. Then the thirteenth and final chapter will hopefully be from Monroe's point of view. I've already got an idea for it, so we'll just have to see if I can find a good voice for her. My one-shot "Exit the Hero" has Kane as one of the people Clarke says good-bye to before leaving, and there's a short blurb in there about their good-bye if you want to read it. If you're interested in Kane and Abby's relationship, my connected one-shots "The Sun Will Rise" and "Raise Your Glass" both contain a lot of discussion about them as well as a short scene in each with the two of them actually interacting. As always, thanks for reading!


	12. Lexa

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: A few different people expressed interest in seeing a bit more of Lexa, especially after reading Indra's chapter. I hadn't originally planned on doing a Lexa chapter, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided this series wouldn't be complete without one. So here it is. This is one of my favorite chapters just because it's very different stylistically from the rest. There's a lot of stuff in parenthesis in this chapter. The further I got into it, the more I realized just how layered Lexa is. Most of this is technically in her head, and I doubt she'd ever admit it to anyone. But the stuff in parenthesis is like extra private thoughts that I'm not entirely sure she'd even admit to herself. Hopefully it works. The lyrics are from the gorgeous song "All the King's Horses" by Karmina. If you haven't heard it yet, you should definitely give it a listen. Also there's an absolutely amazing Clarke fanvideo with the full song that you should definitely watch. But enough of me talking. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Lexa**

Rebellion in the coalition has begun to die down a bit by the time summer draws near. The brutal retaliation seems to be finally having the desired effect. But Lexa knows the respite is only temporary. She may have finally beaten them into submission, but it has already gone too far. The clans know now that it might be possible to overthrow her with enough force. And sooner or later they will try again. There will be much more bloodshed before this is over. ( _And it may not end the way she wants it to, although daring to think such things shows weakness._ )

She does not sleep much anymore. She has little time for it with the constant fighting and planning for fighting. And when she does have time, her mind is too occupied trying to formulate new plans for her to get any real rest. And then there are the assassination attempts. She trusts her guards. She does. But the last attempt got far too close for her liking. And that makes sleep even harder to come by. What little sleep she does get is often haunted by dreams of a blonde warrior who is either weeping or demanding blood payment. ( _She is not sure which of the two is more painful_.) She has become increasingly grateful for the black war paint that hides the dark circles under her eyes. She wears it almost constantly now, which seems fitting considering the state of the coalition. It is now more important than ever that she not be seen as weak.

If there is one thing Lexa is not, is it weak. She became the leader of her people when she was only sixteen. There had been many doubts about whether she truly carried the spirit of her predecessor, but she had proved everyone wrong. And then she had decided to unite all twelve clans. Once again everyone had doubted. And once again she had silenced them all. Time and again Lexa has done the impossible. She is the greatest leader her people have ever seen. That is fact, not opinion. And she knows it.

No, Lexa is not weak. But she is tired. Tired of always fighting. ( _Tired of being alone._ ) Yes, it is the way of her people. But even the strongest warriors need rest. And that Lexa will never truly have. That is the burden of a leader. To press on when no strength remains. To sacrifice when there is nothing left to give. ( _To break the heart of the person she loves most._ ) To live and breathe for her people until the day finally comes when she must die for them. There are days Lexa wishes this burden had never come to her. But this is her birthright, and she will continue to bear it until the day it finally crushes her. And crush her it will, just as it did those before her. But this is what she was called to do. And do it she will.

But destiny can be a lonely thing. This burden cannot be shared with anyone. ( _She could have shared it with Clarke._ ) Lexa learned early that to be Heda was to be alone. She learned that when the Ice Nation sent her Costia's head. Love is weakness. ( _Yet somehow Clarke made it strength._ ) Caring for someone only gives the enemy more leverage against you. And so Lexa forced herself to close her heart. To set aside foolish feelings and rely only on her own strength. Her heart remained firmly closed for three years, safe from all emotional pain. ( _And then one day a girl who fell from the sky had walked into Lexa's tent, her life, and her heart._ )

Two full seasons have passed since the events at the mountain, and still thoughts of Clarke cause a pain in Lexa's chest. She tries to tell herself that this is all Clarke brought her – pain and weakness. ( _But there was also more. Clarke brought joy into a brutal life. She brought hope for a future beyond war. She brought the idea that life could be more. But most of all she brought companionship. Here at last was a true equal, someone with whom Lexa could finally share fully. With whom she could be more than just Heda. And for one brief moment, Lexa had dared to hope._ )

Hoping she and Clarke could be anything more than allies had been weakness. ( _Or so she tells herself._ ) Lexa can never be anyone other than Heda. ( _She could with Clarke. Clarke saw right through her._ ) The girl she once was is gone. Her duty now is to her people, no matter what it costs her. So she sacrificed her heart to do what her head knew she must. She destroyed Clarke to save her people. And she knows in her head that it was necessary. ( _But that does nothing to ease the pain in her heart. It does not help the crushing guilt of her betrayal or the deep loneliness she feels. Some days she wishes she had never met Clarke. At least then she would not know what she is missing. But she did meet Clarke and she does know. And it hurts. It hurts beyond words._ )

Lexa is pulled from her thoughts by voices outside of her tent. It gives her enough warning to pull her head from her hands and get to her feet before the tent flap opens.

"Heda," the guard says respectfully. "There is word from Tondc."

"Speak," Lexa orders in her best commanding tone.

"Clarke of the Sky People has returned to her people's camp," the guard says.

Lexa's heart catches in her throat. Has she heard him correctly?

"Are they sure?" she barks.

"The messenger says Indra herself has seen the Sky girl," the guard tells her.

It takes every drop of practice and will Lexa possesses to keep her face void of emotion. She cannot afford to react. Not with him watching.

"Shall I call for a war council?" the guard asks.

Of course he expects war now. Clarke is a legend here. In his minds, her return can only mean that she has come to lead her people against their betrayers. But Lexa knows Clarke. Clarke will not want war. (Not even with the person who broke her heart.)

"No," she says quickly. Maybe too quickly. She rests her hand on her knife, letting the familiar wood anchor her. She needs details. This at least is a safe request. Her people will assume she is gathering information in order to assess how great a threat Clarke presents. And it will be true. She simply wants ( _needs_ ) to know if her former ally ( _friend_ ) is hostile ( _is alright_ ).

"The messenger will rest here tonight," Lexa says coolly. "Tomorrow he will return to Tondc with one of our riders. They will get a full report from Indra and bring it straight to me."

The guard gives a partial bow and backs out of the tent. The flap closes behind him. Only once he is gone does Lexa allow herself to sink back into the chair. For a moment she can only stare at the dirt. Her entire body is in shock. Clarke has returned to her people. Is it really possible? After all these months in isolation, could she have finally healed enough to go home?

Lexa has known for several months now exactly where Clarke was. Indra has brought her occasional private reports. It seems she has a friend in the village near where Clarke has stayed. Lexa has treated them as if she were only keeping tabs on a possible enemy. ( _In truth, she craved these tidbits of news. And Indra must have known because she kept bringing them, even though Lexa never asked for them._ ) They have been mostly the same. Clarke eats, sleeps, draws, and trains with two children that have apparently decided to befriend her. ( _The thought gives Lexa some small comfort. At least Clarke is not alone._ ) Then Octavia found her and Lexa began to wonder how long it would be before Clarke returned. And now apparently she has.

There are very few regrets that Lexa carries. She cannot afford such luxury. Up until the mountain, Lexa's only real regret was not being able to save Costia. But now she carries another burden just as heavy. She does not regret betraying Clarke. ( _She does wish there had been another way._ ) If she could return to that moment, she knows she would make the same choice. She had told herself only a few days ago that she would not, but that had been only a moment of weakness. ( _Or so she tells herself now._ ) No, she does not regret the betrayal. But she does regret that she was forced to it. Forced because her duty is always to her people, and this was the only way to save all of them. She regrets what it did to Clarke.

Clarke possessed a light, an innocence that Lexa has never seen in someone her age. Among her people, that light is quickly beaten out of children. Not even Costia's light had been as bright as Clarke's. Life is harsh, and survival requires that their people be the same. Lexa had thought it meant weakness, but somehow Clarke had made it strength. She has one of the strongest spirits Lexa has ever encountered. But she also believed. Believed in a future that made Lexa want to believe too. It had never made sense to Lexa. How could someone be both so strong and so caring? And yet Clarke had been both. And she had seemed unbreakable.

Until Lexa had broken her. She had put that light under the heel of her boot and she had crushed it into nothing. She had stood there before the giant metal door and watched as the light faded from Clarke's eyes. And that day in the woods when Clarke saved her life, Lexa had looked into those same eyes and seen a haunted brokenness. ( _That is the hardest part of it. The part that keeps her up at night after she has gone to bed with all her deepest thoughts and emotions unshared. The part that makes her freeze when she hears seconds clamoring for stories about Clarke of the Sky People. The part that makes her chest ache whenever she thinks of returning to Polis without a blonde warrior riding beside her. This is what truly haunts her – the knowledge that she had finally found goodness in this world and she chose to destroy it._ )

But now Clarke has returned to her people. And that can only mean one thing – she is healed of her guilt and her pain. Somehow she has found the strength to recover. Maybe not fully, but enough that she can face her people. In spite of what Lexa did, Clarke is whole again.

That thought causes a storm of emotions. There is joy. ( _Clarke is whole. The girl who filled Lexa's world with color has found her spark again._ ) There is jealousy. ( _How has is it that Clarke has healed herself when Lexa is still haunted?_ ) There is shame. ( _Perhaps being haunted is exactly what Lexa deserves._ ) There is guilt. ( _None of this would have happened if Lexa had not broken Clarke in the first place. She could have faked a retreat and then brought her warriors back. She could have slit Emerson's throat before he could speak._ ) There is anxiety. ( _It is only a matter of time before Clarke is in charge of her people again. That means a day will come when she and Lexa cross paths. But how will Clarke react? Lexa knows they can never be the same again. Not after what she did. But maybe there could still be something between them._ ) There is fear. ( _What if Clarke hates Lexa? What if she wants nothing to do with her? What if Lexa has to live the rest of her life knowing that she herself destroyed the only good thing left to her?_ )

Lexa rubs her tired eyes until she sees flashes of color against her closed eyelids. Indra said that Clarke draws. Maybe it gives her peace. Maybe Lexa should try it. But Heda has no time for such things. Art is a useless pastime. It would only make her look weak. _(Not for the first time, Lexa wishes she was as strong as the sky girl. Strong enough to let herself be weak. Strong enough to let herself be broken. Because she is. When she broke Clarke, she also broke herself. She is twenty years old, and already the burden of leadership is beginning to crush her._ )

She wonders sometimes how long it will be before this burden finally kills her. ( _She wonders if part of her wishes for that day._ ) She wonders if death is peaceful or if she even deserves peace. ( _And even if she does not, she wonders if succumbing to the abyss would not be easier than living with what she has done._ ) She will never admit these thoughts to anyone, of course. ( _She could have admitted them to Clarke, but Clarke is gone._ ) Heda should not have such selfish thoughts. ( _But just because a thing is forbidden does not stop it from happening. Friendships break and hearts shatter. This should not be, but it is._ )

Lexa gets up from her chair and moves to her bed, blowing out her lamp as she does so. She tells herself that she is only tired, and that when she wakes these thoughts will be gone. ( _They will not._ ) She tells herself that love is weakness. ( _She is no longer so sure._ ) She tells herself that she is Heda, and Heda is not weak. ( _But somewhere deep inside her is a girl who wishes she could be. She wishes she could be Lexa instead of Heda. She wishes she could choose her heart instead of her head. She wishes she could be near Clarke instead of alone. She wishes a great many things._ ) Heda does not get to wish for herself. Only for her people.

She closes her eyes, and eventually she sleeps. She dreams of a blonde warrior with a fierce heart and a gentle spirit. She dreams of bright eyes and laughing smiles, of naïve promises that are kept instead of broken. She dreams that her heart is whole.

( _And when she wakes, she wishes that it had been more than just a dream._ )

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While you're already down here, please take a few seconds to leave me a quick review. It doesn't have to be long or eloquent. Any amount of feedback will make me super happy. Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed. You're all amazing. Please keep it up. This story is almost over. The last chapter will be Monroe (assuming my muse cooperates) and will look at how much she respects Clarke as well as something that happens a while after Clarke's back that feels like a fitting conclusion to this series. If you want to read more of Lexa, my one-shot "This Is Life Without You" looks at her life from Mount Weather until right before this chapter. In my opinion, it's one of my better pieces. Thanks for reading!


	13. Monroe

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This brings us to the last chapter of this story. When I started it, I only meant for it to have six chapters. But you guys showed such much interest and kept asking for other characters and I kept getting ideas for them. So now it's twice as long as I originally intended. Which I think is pretty cool. This last chapter is Monroe, the last requested character. I'm not entirely sure how happy I am with her voice, but I do like the plot of this chapter. I really think it brings this story to a fitting end. Hopefully you guys will like too. Enjoy!

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 **Monroe**

Monroe is not a coward. She's not. In fact, some might say that she's one of the braver members of the hundred. She's volunteered for more than her fair share of watches, search parties, and combat. Most people would say that makes her incredibly brave.

But Monroe knows better. She may be brave most of the time. But when it really counts, she has a habit of cracking. When the battle for the drop ship started to get hot, she bolted. When Bellamy tried to save Finn from his captor, she froze. (True, she came back. But still.) When the Grounders betrayed them at Mount Weather, she gave up and walked away. Monroe may talk a good game, but when push comes to shoves, her courage tends to falter.

Maybe that's why she volunteered for the guard after Mount Weather. Because she felt like she had something to prove. Maybe that's why she pushes herself so hard. It's certainly paying off. She's easily the best shot among the cadets. Bellamy made Miller head of the guard in the smaller camp, and he in turn made Monroe his second in command. He seems to trust her implicitly. So does Bellamy. Part of Monroe is proud that they have so much faith in her. But she still worries. There may be peace now, but the ground is not all sunshine and rainbows. And when crap finally hits the fan, Monroe can't help wondering if she'll buckle under the pressure.

But as much as Monroe respects and looks up to Bellamy, Clarke is the one she wishes actually she could be more like. Clarke never falters. She never gives up. Sure, she may struggle with being in charge and she may occasionally have to take a time-out. But she never runs when it counts. Monroe would give almost anything for that kind of bravery.

Even so, Clarke's been different since she came back. Not enough that it's too obvious. Most people don't even seem to have noticed. But Monroe's perceptive. She sees things. Like that Clarke prefers a knife now to a gun, and she has a Grounder-style blade that she carries with her everywhere. She goes running a lot now. Usually just a few laps around the camp early in the morning. Not so odd, except that the old Clarke never did that. And she practices hand-to-hand combat a lot with Octavia and Lincoln like she's fighting to hold onto something. Sometimes she even speaks with them in the Grounder language. Most of those just seem like lifestyle changes brought on by her self-imposed exile. Nothing too worrisome.

But there are other things too. Like the way Clarke freezes up sometimes. It's only ever for a second or two, not really long enough to call attention. A person could blink and miss it. But in that split instant she looks like she's staring at something only she can see. Something haunting. She makes visits to Tondc with a regularity that could put a watch to shame. It's like some part of her is still trying to make up for what happened there. And Octavia has hinted a few times that she doesn't always sleep well. Again, little things. Most of the time Clarke seems fine, and everyone else seems to just assume she is. But every now and then Monroe wonders if something's not quite right. Bellamy must see it too, because sometimes he looks at Clarke with carefully veiled concern. But he never says anything, so neither does Monroe.

She's pulled from her thoughts by the sound of footsteps behind her. That's odd. It's still dark out and the sun won't be up for a while yet. But apparently someone else is. She glances over her shoulder and is surprised to see Clarke coming towards her. Speak of the devil.

"Morning," Clarke says softly to not disturb the early morning quiet. "You're up early."

"Jones was out all yesterday, so I told him I've take the end of his watch," Monroe explains in a voice barely above a whisper. "What are you doing up?"

"There's something I need to do," Clarke says. Her arms are crossed over her chest like she's cold, but it's already hot out. And she's staring past the gate as if avoiding Monroe's eyes.

"You okay?" Monroe asks. "You look... nervous."

"That's a good word for it," Clarke says with a weak chuckle. She bites her lip briefly and then sighs in defeat. "I'm going to Mount Weather. I need to finally face what happened."

Monroe can feel her eyebrows lift in surprise. In the two months since Clarke's been back, she hasn't gone near Mount Weather. Not that anyone expected her to. What she did there was hard on her. So hard that she had to walk away. And now she's going back there?

"That's pretty brave," Monroe says admiringly.

"I don't feel very brave," Clarke admits. She tightens her arms across her chest.

"You are," Monroe insists. "You always are. You never back down from anything. Even when the Grounders betrayed us, you took on the mountain by yourself."

"Technically I wasn't by myself," Clarke says.

"But still," Monroe tells her. "You're one of the bravest people I know."

"Thanks," Clarke says. There's a warmth in her eyes and a small smile on her face that says she's genuinely touched. "You're pretty brave too."

Now it's Monroe's turn to look away.

"Not as brave as I should be," she says, idly kicking a clump of grass at her feet.

"Well, I think you're pretty brave," Clarke says. Monroe just shrugs. So Clarke plows on. "You volunteered to help Bellamy find Octavia even though you knew the Grounders were out there. When we fought at the drop ship, you were right there in the foxholes."

"And then I ran," Monroe points out.

"So?" Clarke says. "We were untrained kids facing off against an army. Everyone was scared. And if they weren't, they were either lying or idiots. And what about at Mount Weather? You were right beside me on the frontlines."

"And then I left you," Monroe reminds her.

"We had no army," Clarke says. "Leaving wasn't cowardice. It was the smart thing to do. Octavia and I were the only ones who stayed, and that's only because we're crazy."

Monroe smiles a little in spite of herself. Clarke smiles back as if that was her intent.

"I still should've stayed," Monroe says. She sighs. "I always mean to, but I get scared."

"You want to know a secret?" Clarke asks. Monroe hesitates briefly before nodding. "Both times we went into battle, I was terrified. In fact, I was pretty much scared all the time those first two months. Scared that I would fail and get everyone killed. But I kept going."

"How?" Monroe asks in interest.

"Somebody once told me that the trick is not fighting the fear," Clarke says. She pauses briefly as if lost in her own mind, but it only lasts a second before she's back. "Being brave is not the absence of fear. It's acting in spite of your fear. So when you think about it, the people who are scared the most are the ones with the most chances for bravery."

"I guess I never thought about it like that," Monroe admits.

"If there's one thing I've learned these last few months," Clarke says, glancing out at the dim world beyond the gate, "it's that we can't live in the past. We can only go forward." She turns back and looks seriously Monroe. "You volunteered to join the guard. And maybe there's peace now, but there won't always be. You had to know that when you signed up. If an army appeared outside that gate right now, what would you do? Run? Or stay and fight?"

Monroe has to think about that for a moment. She's done an awful lot of running in the past. But there were also times she didn't run. She didn't run when Diggs and Roma died right in front of her. She didn't run when Bellamy was dangling off the cliff and an arrow went into her leg. She didn't run from Mount Weather until it seemed there was no possible way to win. If bravery really is just about facing down fear, well… Maybe Monroe has some in her after all.

"I'd fight," she says finally. And somehow she knows for certain that she would.

"I think you would," Clarke agrees with a proud smile. She looks back out into the darkness and sighs. "Now if you don't mind, I have a battle of my own to go fight."

Monroe takes hold of the gate and pulls it open so Clarke can slip out.

"Good luck," she says once Clarke is through.

"Thanks," Clarke says quietly. She takes a step forward and then suddenly turns back as if something has just occurred to her. "Bellamy and I have been talking about me and Octavia maybe taking a group to Polis in the fall to see if we can help stabilize the coalition. It could be a dangerous trip, but I think it needs to be done for the safety of our people. It's not a sure thing yet. But if we do go, we could use some extra guns."

Something about the way the sentence hangs in the air makes it an unspoken question. And Monroe doesn't even have to think about it.

"Sign me up," she says. The words draw a wide smile from Clarke.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she says. "I'll let you know what we decide."

And with that she's gone, disappearing into the inky blackness that still coats the world. Monroe is left alone in silence. This is part of why she takes the daybreak watch so often. It gives her some time alone in the mornings to clear her head before everyone else gets up.

But another set of footsteps signals that her peace is about to be disrupted again. She looks over her shoulder to see Jasper running up beside her. His hair is a bit disheveled as if he just rolled out of bed a few minutes ago and his eyes are wide in something resembling anxiety.

"Everything okay?" Monroe asks in concern.

"Clarke," Jasper says quickly. "I saw her leave. There's a note in her tent, but it doesn't say... Do you know where she's going?"

That surprises Monroe. Jasper has had as little as possible to do with Clarke since her return. They're barely on speaking terms, and that only when necessary. Maya's death was hard on Jasper. He turned into a bit of a jerk for a while until Octavia finally knocked some sense into him. (Literally.) But even so, he's still been fairly quiet and withdrawn, and it's clear he's having a hard time accepting Clarke back after the part she played. He hasn't seemed to care one bit what happens to her. But now here he is frantically asking where she went.

It briefly occurs to Monroe that Clarke might not want to be followed. But seeing how worried Jasper clearly is about her and knowing how nervous she looked about facing the mountain alone, Monroe decides to make a judgment call.

"Mount Weather," she says. "She went to Mount Weather. Said she had to face it."

Jasper's eyes widen further in surprise.

"She shouldn't be there alone," he blurts out. He starts wringing his hands as if he's trying to decide something. Then he forces himself to lower them (the wrinkles in his forehead show just how much willpower that takes) and sets his shoulders. "I'm going after her."

Monroe reaches out without a word and opens the gate for him. She gets that what happened between Jasper and Clarke was hard. But it's been almost nine months. It's time for them to finally have it out. And this little trip just might make that happen.

Jasper squares his shoulders and slips out. Monroe closes the gate behind him.

"We'll be back late," Jasper says quietly over his shoulder. "Tell people not to wait up."

It's only after he's gone that Monroe lets herself smile at his use of the word "we."

Dawn comes all too soon, and the rest of her day is spent fulfilling the various duties of a cadet. By the time night falls, she's exhausted. But evenings are the best time in the smaller camp, so Monroe stays up for a while anyway. Apparently she stays up longer than she means to, because she's still sitting at a campfire talking about guard stuff with Bellamy and Miller when the gate to the smaller camp swings open. The campfire is close enough to the gate that the three of them are able to see Clarke and Jasper walk back into camp. They're walking side by side. Jasper is in the middle of some animated story, completely oblivious to the fact that he's now back in camp. And Clarke's bright smile seems to be on the verge of turning into a laugh. The sight of them both together actually getting along is shock enough. But what truly hits Monroe are the subtleties. Their shoulders are a little straighter as if a weight has finally been taken off. And there is a light in both of their eyes that's been missing for a long time.

"They're back," Bellamy says quietly. It could just be a trick of the firelight, but when Monroe glances across the fire at him, she could swear she sees just the barest hint of moisture in his eyes. But even if that were just her imagination, the gentle smile on his face and the knowing look in his eyes tells her that he's seeing the same thing she is. It's not just that their friends have returned to camp after a long day. It's that they've both come back whole.

She turns back over her shoulder to look at Clarke, who has finally broken into laughter. And then Jasper starts laughing too. It's a beautiful sound, and Monroe can't help smiling.

"Yeah," she says. "I think they are."

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Please take a moment to leave one last review before you go. This story has been such an amazing ride. I've loved hearing from all of you along the way. If you want to see what happened between Jasper and Clarke at Mount Weather, check out the fourth and final chapter of "The Long Road Home." As for Clarke's comment about she and Octavia possibly going to Polis, I have considered writing a story about that at some point. I'm still trying to come up with a full plot. Some of you have also asked about a Bellamy version of "The Long Road Home," and I'm definitely playing with that idea as well. I can't promise that either of those will actually go anywhere, and if they do, it'll be a while before I start posting because I want to make some decent headway into the writing first. But we still have a long wait until season 3, so maybe one or both of those will happen in the near future. In the meantime, feel free to read my other work. I have nine other stories in this fandom alone. Check them out and let me know what you think. I hope you'll continue keeping up with my work. And as always, thanks for reading!


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